Snoqualmie Falls, a popular and scenic waterfalls, was our destination for the day. Our navigator was showing a good 30-mile drive from our hotel. Also, there were red and orange marks on the navigator indicating bad traffic conditions along the way. We decided for an earlier than usual departure time hoping to avoid the traffic. Despite that, we were still caught by the slow-moving traffic along I-405 and I-90. Luckily, it only slowed down and did not turn the interstate into a parking lot.

The City of Issaquah

Halfway to Snoqualmie Falls was the City of Issaquah. We had a short break from driving here to visit Jakob Two Trees, the last of the four Pacific Northwest Trolls that we were visiting. The road narrowed as we got off Interstate 90 until we reached Issaquah Community Center. The houses on both sides of the narrowed road looked attractive with their characteristic Northwest Regional style. It looked so nice that we started thinking of moving to Issaquah. Good thing we remembered to consider the cost of living and job opportunities before thinking of moving.

Snoqualmie Falls

It was another twenty to thirty minutes before we reached Snoqualmie Falls. We arrived early. It was easy parking a vehicle in a half-filled parking lot. We later realized that parking fee was expensive therefore not a lot of vehicles were parked. Our lucky break was not paying for any entrance fee.

The two viewing decks

The upper viewing deck required climbing several flights of stairs. We got a bird’s eye view of the waterfalls, the plunge pool area, part of the water runoff, and the hydroelectric plant. We later followed the trail leading to the lower viewing deck. It was close to the water’s edge. The trail had a descent of 374 feet over a 0.7 mile hike. It was our big exercise for the day.

The trail hit a T intersection. The trail on the right was leading to the rocky bottom of the river. We didn’t pick this trail as we did not want our feet wet. The trail on the left was leading to the lower viewing deck. This was where we headed. There was an old power plant right before entering the gate to the lower viewing deck. The power plant was off limits to the public. This viewing deck gave us a better vantage point to the falls.

What went down, must climb up

It took a lot of effort to get back to the parking area. Just like they say, “what goes up, must come down”. This time around, “what went down, must climb up”. The trek was slow and arduous but we made it.