On the Whitehorse Trail ~

Three Fingers Peak~

Grandson Ben rode the train up from Astoria, OR to Duvall.  Arriving Wed. night - to visit his cousin's Mason & Cassidy.  Of course Uncle Dave, Aunt Courtney & me too!  This day, we borrowed the Highlander & with Ben driving, he & I took a cruise to Arlington.  The last time I'd ridden with Ben, he'd just received his drivers license! 

It felt like dejavu when we turned onto Hwy 92 & the Cascades came into view. Covered in snow, they looked as though cut from ice. Ben pulled off to the side of the narrow road several times to let me get photos. Though not the view from the Homestead, the one above was as close to it as I could get.

Mt. Pilchuck~

I've always loved this barn, with the view of Mt. Pilchuck behind it.  We continued on to Arlington.  Several changes there, a new pharmacy off Hwy 9 & more houses under construction.

Great Food!

 Ben & I had a plan though!  A stop at Nutty's for lunch!  We spent most of the drive trying to decide what we'd have & then changed our minds once we were there!  With lunch to work off, Haller Park was next.  Parking for the Centennial & Whitehorse Trails.

Grandson Ben on the Haller Trestle Bridge~

 We'd decided to hike out to the arch & walk the Whitehorse trail to Tin Bridge - always Farah & my favorite.  I thought of her often on our walk & told Ben stories of how she would step on the metal transition plates to make her steel shoes ring.

Grammy~

This bridge is at the convergence of the north & south forks of the Stillaquamish River.  A favorite place for locals to come & cool off in the hot summer months.

North fork coming down from Darrington~

It's supposed to be winter, but you wouldn't have know it by the temperature, in the mid-40's.  The warmest first two-weeks of January on record.

New signage~

I was really dismayed by the new signage by the Resilience Arch.  It asked;

Are You Ready?

I thought it a real shame to put signage so close to the beautiful & artful arch...  I doubt the artist would be too pleased either...  If I were still the chairman of the CTCSC, I would have disagreed with this addition to the trail.  It's not as if most everyone who lives in the state is not aware of the hazards associated with living near volcano's...

Commemorative Bricks~

We visited our bricks :-)  I have the originals that were taken out - on our back deck.  (They hadn't been etched deeply enough.)  It seemed sad not to have Farah with us.

Ominous signage~

The Whitehorse was closed.  I had heard about this from friends - I'm not sure how long ago.  As usual, Ben & I wanted to see what we could see & started out on the incredibly deep gravel.  It makes walking, biking or horse riding difficult.  Eventually it was to be resurfaced with rock that could be compacted.

On our Way~

 So familiar, yet different, since I'm no longer ten-feet tall.  It was Ben who spotted the beautiful doe looking out at us from the brush.  She was so well camouflaged that I needed Ben's help to see her.

Doe~

I hadn't brought my  Garmin :-(  But I knew the distance to Tin Bridge was 2-miles.  We'd gone about 1.5 when  we saw the second sign & the beginning of the slide.  It was right where a slide occurred in 2015.  This time, I'm told there's no effort underway to remove it.

Slide area ahead~

Ben points the way, while standing where a large portion of the trail has slid into the river.  Less than half the width had slid down.  It seemed to have been eroded from below - possibly undermined by water coming off the hillside above.

Ben on the trail~

Looking down at the river~

Smaller Slide~

What amazed us both - was the Huge boulder that had come out of the hillside! The size of the Bronco at least, it was smooth, black & unmarked.

Ben on the boulder~

Ben climbed up for a photo, so I had to do it too! Luckily there was an uprooted stump that was jammed into the dirt behind the rock & gave us a handhold.

Grammy on the rock~

From that viewpoint & could see almost over the top of the large slide ahead. Almost half the hillside was now either on, or below the trail.

Slide & uprooted trees~

I climbed up to the top of the pile of debris. It had settled & I doubt it will move further without heavy equipment to push it off the edge & into the river.

Climbing over~

I always dislike seeing Cedar trees go down... But at least the one above had been uprooted.

The trail continues~

At this point there was a deep hole in the trail surface, where another tree had fallen in.  It was also getting late in the afternoon.  We were so close to Tin Bridge, Ben had never been there.  It was hard to turn back, until we though about how long it would take us to reach the car.

Ben waiting~

This is such a beautiful stretch of the river, one of my very favorites.  Farah & I would stop here often for our break.  It was also a great trail to ride in the winter, when you were in no hurry.  Ben & I spotted an Eagle on our way back.

Haller Park~

There was a lot of construction going on at the park.  My old parking place for the horse trailer was now under piles of dirt.  A new splash pad is planned!  The park has been under an ongoing improvement plan for years, it looks rough right now.

We drove past the Homestead on our way back to Duvall.  No, it didn't look anything like home to me anymore...  We both would have liked to walk the woods & could see where the top had been blown off one of the Cedars.  A large vine maple was down too.  I doubt we could have made it through.

Traffic!  It was 4 p.m.  as we got to the corner of 163rd & 84th.  Just to get out from our corner into the steady stream of traffic took several minutes.  Lucky for us, we were traveling against the flow & made the 35-miles back to Duvall in time for dinner!