Forum Index > Trip Reports > Commonwealth Basin - 2016-12-30
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mbravenboer
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Joined: 20 Oct 2013
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Location: Seattle
mbravenboer
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PostSat Dec 31, 2016 12:15 pm 
Late this summer we hiked the old Commonwealth Basin trail and I was impressed with how nice the forest, creeks & waterfalls are along this trail. I've been planning to go back this winter when conditions didn't allow me to go to more risky destinations anyway. We parked at West Summit at around 11am. It wasn't super easy to find a spot, but it wasn't horrible either. The forest is immediately quite nice, and the interstate is not very noisy along the start of this snowshoe. Both the Commonwealth Basin and the PCT had well-travelled trails, so it was relatively easy going. Just before the crossing of the Commonwealth Creek we checked out the waterfall, which was pretty though not nearly as a big as it was in summer. Crossing the creek using the bridge is a bit of a balancing act with snowshoes, but you can easily also just walk through the creek. We walked a lollipop in the basin that previous snowshoers already created for us. This made it generally pretty easy (though after the creek the route is less traveled). We ran into about 10 parties. After the creek crossing, it was pretty quiet. It's nice that this snowshoe is not overrun like other destinations close by. We bought snowshoes for our toddler recently, and we thought this would be a nice trail to explore and see if Jake likes to snowshoe by himself already. He wasn't really in the mood to try it though, so I carried him almost the entire trip. Hopefully better next time!
The Commonwealth Basin snowshoe immediately enters beautiful forest
The Commonwealth Basin snowshoe immediately enters beautiful forest
The view we got today
The view we got today
Martin & Jake
Martin & Jake
Marin & Jake crossing the Commonwealth Creek
Marin & Jake crossing the Commonwealth Creek
Snowy bridge across the Commonwealth Creek
Snowy bridge across the Commonwealth Creek
Shan Shan was wiser and walked through the creek
Shan Shan was wiser and walked through the creek
Martin & Jake
Martin & Jake
Feeling small
Feeling small
Liesl, Martin & Jake
Liesl, Martin & Jake
Beautiful meadows at the the end of the basin
Beautiful meadows at the the end of the basin
Jake playing in the snow
Jake playing in the snow
Jake & Liesl
Jake & Liesl
Happy Jake
Happy Jake

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RichP
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Joined: 13 Jul 2006
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RichP
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PostSat Dec 31, 2016 12:46 pm 
Great idea. up.gif I think I'll take my little one up here for some snow fun too. The pass area was super busy yesterday. Glad to see they are having a good year so far.

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Gimpilator
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Joined: 12 Oct 2006
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Location: Edmonds, WA
Gimpilator
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PostSun Jan 01, 2017 4:23 pm 
Nice looking outing. up.gif

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Forum Index > Trip Reports > Commonwealth Basin - 2016-12-30
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