June 22, 2024
Written By: J.Couch
We had one of our first weekends in Seattle without any moving or plans to meet up with anyone and thought it was the perfect time to get out of the apartment and explore. Our destination today was Snoqualmie Falls which we heard was a neat place to go see. We drove the short drive from the downtown area on I90 east towards Issaquah. Being that it was still somewhat early in the day it was not as crowded and we were able to get into the parking lot and find a spot right away. I am sure that during peak times this place can get a little crazy and hard to find parking. There seem to be two parking areas, the upper parking that is easy access to the viewing area of the top of the falls and a lower parking that takes you down by the river and a view of the falls from below. We started at the top parking and took the bridge across to the upper viewing area. When we got there, we were not sure what to expect. But my first thought was I didn’t know how touristy this place was. I found that this is a very touristy thing to do when visiting the Seattle area and over 1.5 million people visit the falls each year.
The falls is a 268-foot drop to the valley below and is a very impressive view to see. There was a lot of water coming over the falls while we were there but at different times of the year, it can be less or even much more. Much more during the rainy season from November to March.
We took the short walk out to the observation area where you get a great view looking back at the falls and the lodge that sits on the cliff top. It’s the iconic view that you see in all the pictures and TV shows. It’s a great place to get pictures of the falls.
From there we took the trail down to the lower parking lot and lower viewing area. This trail is not for people who have a hard time walking or are out of shape. This is a good wide trail but a very big descent down to the river below. The trip back up is tiring. It has over a 300-foot elevation gain. It might be easier for some to drive down to the lower parking and walk from there.
Down below there is a walkway that takes you by the power plant below and around the bend of the river to another viewing platform to see the falls from river level. It can get crowded at the viewing platform but you get a good view of the falls from the river below.
We hiked the grueling trail back up to the upper parking lot, wondering why we just didn’t drive down here and park. After a few stops to rest and rehydrate, we made it back to the top. We did a quick drive-by of the lodge that sits at the top of the falls. But there seemed to be a lot of construction going on and there were no spots where we could get a view of the falls.
We headed back to the car to drive back down to Issaquah and find one of the newest trolls in the Pacific Northwest.
Thanks for wandering with us,
The Wandering Couchs
