It was a nice day, so we decided to head out on a hike.  We decided to go to Twin Falls State Park, and take the hike up to the falls the park is named for, so early one morning, we headed out to the great outdoors.

Type: Out and Back
Distance: 3-ish miles
Elevation Change: 400 feet
Elevation: 615 - 1015 feet  (Falls are at 975)

As we pulled into the parking lot for the trailhead, there was only one other car... typically, the lot is full, but not this early in the morning.

The early portion of the trail follows alongside the river... it was quite cool and pleasant - a good start!  :-)

The moss on the trees told the story of a damp area that didn't get a lot of sunlight, and all the green confirmed it!

The trail was VERY wide and very easy to follow... it looked like a LOT of people came this way!

There were several old growth trees... one was right next to the trail, and had a fence around it, to keep people from packing down the ground around the roots, which would make it more susceptible to blow-down in the winds of winter, and make it harder for water to seep through for the root ball.

We were deep in the trees, but every so often, we'd be treated to a glimpse of the foothills the trail was nestled in.

It some places the trail, which snaked through an old growth grove, got pretty dark.  When the sunlight did make it through, it seemed to be VERY bright!

As we made our way up to the falls, we could see glimpses of the Snoqualmie River, at the start of the valley.

Before too long, we got to see the lower falls... quite spectacular!

From an overlook, we had a great view of the falls, which made a pretty impressive drop!

By the look of the rock around the falls, it seemed to me that the flow was quite a bit higher during the snowmelt, and during heavy rains farther up in the mountains...

Heading on up to the upper falls, we came to a bridge, which we decided was our turnaround point. The two falls - upper and lower - gives "Twin Falls" its name.

On the bridge, we noticed that a squirrel was also using the bridge to cross the river... :-)

The view of the valley from above the falls was every bit as  impressive as the view from the reverse angle, which we had earlier.

The view from the upper falls from the bridge wasn't too bad, but wasn't anything like the lower falls!

We took a last look around, then headed back down to the parking lot.  We found out from the sign at the start of the trail that if we'd gone up the steps, there's an "upper falls overlook" which probably would have given us a better view of the upper falls... a reason to come back.

We also noticed that we could get to the falls from Olalie State Park, which was farther up the highway... and thought that it might be a good idea for something different some day.

On the way down, the going was a bit easier for me.  :-)  I noticed much more of the moss on the trees.

Back at the parking lot to the trailhead, there were quite a few cars... we passed a number of folks heading up as we were heading down... we'd gotten there at a good time!

In all, it was a fun hike, and probably one we'll do again!  :-) 

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