I went to the birthplace of the North Fork Snoqualmie River. A week earlier I had written to Bryan Swan if he wanted to go to look for Florence Falls with me on the Miller River. This is a waterfall that appears on USGS maps, yet we can't find a single picture. He wanted to go but already had a commitment to go to Kanim Lake with someone else he met online. Bryan wanted to see Kanim Falls and John wanted to get water from Kanim Lake to baptise his boy. Getting there was brutal and neither wanted to go alone, plus another person would only make this trip safer and more fun. So he asked me if I wanted to go and then go to Florence Falls 2 weeks later and I could not pass this up! Especially if I was meeting Bryan Swan in person!
Well Bryan and I met and I can tell you, he was not what I expected him to be. I was expecting a guy who looked like he could be in his 30's (he is 25) and for some reason 6 ft tall. Instead I met a kid who was my height with red hair and looked like he belong in high school!
Well off we went; the kid and I, the crazy waterfall dudes. I don't know but waterfall nuts like us must be connected in some way or another. He is scared of roller coasters and he is scared of heights. Just think of how many times you have all tried to make me get on a roller coaster and how many times you have all tap me while looking out the window of a high rise just to get a reaction out of me. We met John and got in his SUV and off to Kanim Lake we went.
Well we got on North Fork County Road in North Bend which I knew very well after my crazy man encounter the day before (more on that later!). We took it all the way to the end of the road 25 miles in. Once we go there we started following the trail by following little red banners. This is your first sign that if you don't know how to navigate and use a map and compass you don't belong there. Then we got to the NF Snoqualmie River and the trail ended. That was after maybe 1/4 mile. Now we had to look for a boot path that would appear and disappear. Now we were where only a handful of people have gone. One hiker with a reputation for been nuts when it came to hiking named Tom had gone to Kanim Lake, but he decided to get there by walking in the river, we decided to walk alongside the river. It was beautiful there. Giant trees and streams that would appear out of nowhere and disappear again. I saw salamanders, bunnies, the occasional squirrel, but no bears.
Now as you all know, I love rain, but Saturday, I actually hated rain, I wanted that rain to go somewhere else. It made everything slippery and later it made bad situations worse. Under the trees it didn't bug us since it was a light sprinkle and the tress acted like umbrellas, but when we were in the open, right in the middle of Devil's Club areas it would rain heavily. In California you were always told to watch out for Poison Ivy, well I never encountered it, but I can tell you what plant I hate the most...Devil's Club. That evil plant even has an evil sounding Latin name - Oplopanax horridus. It can grow up to 1.5 meters and we encountered small and tall ones and they were both evil. Don't let looks deceive you. Even the maple-shaped leaves have little-bitty thorns. They go through your skin. You wear a jacket, they still go through that jacket. And the thorns will fester. It's like getting a splinter. You really have to dig them out. It was painful, but we pushed on.
The first waterfall we saw was Paradise Lakes Falls. It was beautiful and Bryan and I took pictures. We figured we would take more on the way back down since we were going to come back via the Paradise Lakes.
Then we pushed on, crossing creeks, streams, using fallen trees as bridges and branches as ropes to pull ourselves up. It was brutal, but we knew what laid at the end. Then we saw it- Kamin Falls. It was impressive all right. We stopped and took pictures and pressed on. We then arrived at the North Fork Snoqualmie River where it appeared out of nowhere underneath giant boulders as it was being fed by Kamin Lake.
We started up the boulder field toward the massive wall and as we did we started climbing rapidly in elevation toward the left of the falls. The way to the lake was finding this blue rope and using it to pull ourselves up the steep headwall. We were more than halfway up the falls in elevation and neither did Brian or I want to look behind us because behind us was down. John would not give up, he needed that water to baptize his son, but then Bryan and I did what good hikers do and that was to know when to call it quits. We had already achieved our goal, plus to us,the waterfall came from Lake Kamin so that water was as good as the water inside the lake. It was 2:05 PM and took us 4 hours to bushwhack a little less than 2 miles.
We stared making our way down took some close up pictures at the foot of the waterfall and then waited for John to go get water from the falls themselves.
By then I noticed my left knee was starting to hurt and get a little stiff and I knew I would have to keep my knee moving otherwise I was going to be in serious trouble.
We started going back looking for our path and along the way discovered bootpaths then back into the Devil's Club fields and you could hear each of us say little obscenities as we pushed or way through. Now it was raining hard making crossing over creeks on logs a bit slippery and the ground squishy.On the way back we must have fallen at least half a dozen times. Bryan fell on some Devil's Club and it tore his hiking pants open below his left knee. Came across some salamanders right in front of my foot and saw them try to hide under a fallen leaf exposing their tails. Finally with hit the trees again and it made the return easier. We stopped for a breather and then my knee stiffened up a bit more and I knew if I let it get cool down it would be more painful so I kept pacing till we started again. Then at last we saw the familiar little red banners and followed back to the car. It had taken us 3 hours to hike back.
We got back to North Bend, said bye to John and went to to Eastgate to get my car and then that is were my knee was in so much pain I could not bend it. I got home and had to lift my leg out of my car and then go up one step at a time. Got in the bathtub and oh my did it feel good, except- my legs arms and my hands were burning as if someone had pour salt water over a bunch of cuts. The reason, that darn Devil's Club! My legs and hands were red and inflamed. Yesterday a day after those muscles around my arms and shoulders started getting sore. Thank goodness my knee for some reason behaved and let me bend it to walk so that I wouldn't be limping into my second interview at the Port of Seattle. (The interview went fine I think, I'll know by Friday if I got the job). By nighttime it hurt to turn over in bed because of my muscles in my arms and shoulders. Luckily today my knee is starting to feel better and it better because Saturday I'm going up Denny Creek off the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River.
Was this hike worth all the aches and pains? You bet!!!! I go to go where only a few have gone. Saw the birthplace of a major river, saw a waterfall and I can say that I have been to Kanin Falls. I did my first hike in the wilderness and made it back in one piece. I also somehow was able to control my fear of heights. Trust me if I wouldn't have you would have seeing video of me been rescued by helicopter on the news. Well I ever go back there again? I doubt it, but I will definitely go back in the wilderness again.
About the crazy man near North Fork County Road, well I was looking for a way to reach the the river by street to get to Fantastic Falls and I hit the dead end with private property in front of me and being respectful of that made a u-turn and as I did that I noticed a big waterfall coming off Mount Si and I realized it was Crater Creek Falls. So I got out of my car and took pictures from a PUBLIC STREET.
I saw a car approach at full speed and go right pass me by about a foot and turn into the driveway behind the house I was parked in front of. Then I had this funny feeling someone was watching me and the redneck jerk that had just almost hit me with his car was on the driveway with a shotgun!
I then turn around facing him and told him "I'm just taking pictures of the waterfall". He replied something along the lines of "That's what they all say, just making sure" and stood there. I turned around kept taking pictures and then left. I was a bit rattled but didn't panic. Then saw a road that went up and I wondered if that would get me to where I wanted to go, but was a bit too rattled so I went to look for Dingford Falls on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River.
I stopped at the Ranger station and found out that road I found was public and I could drive on it and confirmed that street I was on was also public just like I thought. I'm still debating about if I should call the King County Sheriff.
Well that was my weekend. My new Canon S3 IS passed the test and it was an exciting weekend and I cant wait for more like this.
