[puzzlr]

No views of Three Fingers on this misty day, but we knew that going in. The attraction here is the huge trees, slabby waterfalls, and a rough trail that makes you earn the elevation up, and even more so going down. I told my hiking partner it's like walking on the skeleton of the forest. The big surprise of the day was the amount of snow still at Squire Creek Pass. I had expectations of some scattered snow banks, but the entire pass area still has a blanket of snow at least 10 feet deep. FS 2060 is in decent shape. A normal passenger car should be able to make it no problem. Asbestos Falls is visible from the road and is roaring right now.

Eight Mile Creek trailhead

The first part of the Eight Mile trail is an old logging road that had eroded down to large boulders

Boulder River Wilderness

The first big cedar tree we came to at the edge of the old growth forest. Bob is smelling crushed foliage to see if it's a "stinking" Alaskan Yellow Cedar.

Big old growth trail cut

Several trail switchbacks bump into this slab waterfall that extends for many hundreds of feet down the the side of the ridge. It would be fascinating to explore in the fall when it dry and walkable.

Near the top of the slab waterfall is this pool where the trail crosses the stream. It's a natural inifinity pool, and on a hot day woud be great for a cooling dip.

Much to my surprise, we started to run into snow. And this was just the beginning of it!

This was the extent of our Three Fingers view from Squire Creek Pass

Squire Creek Pass in June! I expected a meadow, and got snow.

A huge spring melt hole in the snow

Going down on the snow was way faster than coming up

Old growth looking good as it emerges from the snow cover

Below the snow we slowed down a lot to navigate the wet and slippery trail full of roots and mossy logs

This is stream crossing at the top of the long slabby waterfall. The trail switches back to this stream a couple times far below.

Big, big cedar

Three O'clock Rock

[Magellan]

Lovely trail to really nice views. A bit of peakbagging to be done up there also. Not sure why SC Pass gets so full, but it does. Maybe it's just the fact that it is really broad and open.