Iron Horse State Park - John Wayne Trail

Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Cumulative Elevation gain about 300 ft
Trail length covered : 4.5 miles one way

Time taken: 1hr 30 minutes s on way up and 1 hr 40 on way down.
Level of difficulty: Easy

This is a trail on an old railroad grade that used to stretch from Seattle to Chicago. The railway tracks are not there any more and the grade was converted into a gravel pathway in the 1980s. The section between Cedar Falls Close to North Bend on the West side of the Snoqualmie Pass and Vantage near Columbia River to the East of the Pass has since been maintained by the Washington State Parks and named it as John Wayne Trail. The surroundings of the trail is named the Iron Horse Park. It is nice family hiking trail with gentle slope and minimal physical efforts involved.

I and my friend accessed the trail at its starting point located about 3 miles south of exit 32 of the I-90 interstate highway. Its a gently sloping trail with the mountain wall on the south and excellent views on the other. The Rattlesnake Mountain and the Rattlesnake Ledge are visible from near the start of the trail. There is also a nice view of the Little Si and the Big Si together. This view provides a very good idea about the efforts and difficulty associated with the hiking the Big Si compared to that with the Little Si. There were quite a number of bicyclists on the trail. There was even one man riding a battery powered two-wheeler vehicle. Is a motorized vehicle allowed on this trail? I am not sure. However, we soon saw him coming back, but not riding his motorbike but pushing it!

As we walked, the trail moved closer to the Highway. At some point we passed the Twin Falls State Park on our left. At about 4.5 miles, pretty close to the Olallie State Park, we turned around. If we went on for another 16 miles, we would be walking into the 2-miles long Snoqualmie Tunnel. Well, I plan to return to this trail some other day to hike through that tunnel!

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Kendall Katwalk

Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Cumulative Elevation gain 2700 ft
Trail length: 5.5 miles one way

Time taken: 2hr 45 minutes s on way up and 2 hr 30 on way down.

Level of difficulty: Difficult

From 20090801 Hiking Kendall Katwalk

Kendall Katwalk is a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail that extends from Mexico all the way to Canada. The access point to the trail is located at the Snoqualmie Pass on the I-90 Interstate Highway. It is undoubtedly the most scenic trail I have hiked so far in the short history of my hiking undertakings. The experience was definitely heightened by the company of my friend Rajib.

The aspect that struck me during the trip was that there were more back-packers on this trail than folks coming for a day-hike. We met several parties who were either going on for or returning from an overnight backpacking trip. Most camped by side of lakes further to the north of the Katwalk. One pair was actually hiking for the seventh day since they started at the Stevens Pass on US Highway 2.

The Katwalk itself is a short segment of the ridge line between the Kendall Mountain and the Red Mountain, a mountain literally red-colored in its appearance. The ridge walls fall sharply on either side of the trail which is about 5 feet wide at that segment. About a mile before reaching the Katwalk, the trail emerges from the forests and the steep wall on the West side of the Kendall Mountain as well as a skyline of the mountain tops on the west side starts coming into view. We also captured a nice glimpse of the Mount Rainier.

From 20090801 Hiking Kendall Katwalk

It would be a turning point however, for those who have vertigo - so steep are the slopes. The trail here is narrow and can be dangerous in presence of snow. We encountered now snow though. At the Katwalk, the views are available on both East and West directions.

From 20090801 Hiking Kendall Katwalk

A mile or so beyond the Katwalk exist two lakes on either side of the trail - the Alaska lake and the Gravel Lake. Many hikers carry on till reaching there. We decided to call it a day at the Katwalk with the intention of returning in future to continue hiking to the lakes on that trip. On our way back, we heard the very loud and long calls of a marmot that was sitting on top of a big rock situated way above the trail where the trail passes through a rockfall.

From 20090801 Hiking Kendall Katwalk

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