V is for Vanessa

Distance: 9.9 miles
Duration: 4.5 hours
Elevation Gain: 1400 feet
Difficulty: Moderate

I went on this hike with a buddy; we had a short-list of trails to try, and only made the choice in the car on the way out. The weather forecast for Wallace Falls was warmer and had a lower chance of snow than the alternatives, and it was a shorter driver.

According to Moon Outdoors’ Washington Hiking, the Wallace Falls Trail is 5.6 miles with an optional 1 mile alternate return route (meaning the longer route should be approximately 6.6 miles).

As we parked the car, there was a moderate crackling noise. At first I thought it was the sound of rain, but it was actually the high-voltage power lines overhead. The ranger in the station said that the power lines are louder when it’s humid- I guess that means they’re pretty loud year-round. Contrary to what my book said, a Discovery Pass is required to park; I was able to purchase mine at the ranger station about 50 meters from the trailhead. There are permanent restroom facilities; I can’t speak to the quality of the men’s room, but, the women’s restroom was clean, dry, had warm water and was well stocked with TP & soap.

We signed in at the trailhead, I noticed that some eager beavers had completed the trail by the time that we were starting around 11 am.  The trail started gently, passing under the high-voltage lines for a short section. After passing the “amphitheater” the trail got steeper and we walked between fuzzy, green, moss-clad trees, listening to the sound of the river in the distance. The trail was a little muddy, but not slippery or difficult to traverse. On the way up I had to pause a few times to catch my breath or take a sip of water. During the trip to the upper falls, we leapfrogged 3 other hikers on the trail.

There are several nice viewpoints along the path where you can step off the trail and get a nice view of the falls. Also, there are plenty of fabulous signs warning of the danger of falls. At the upper falls, after reading the ridiculously passive-aggressive notice board warning of the dangers of going beyond this point (have you looked at your watch? do you know when it gets dark? do you know how long it will take to get back to your car? these two girls got lost, don’t be like them…), we decided to press on, follow the blue diamonds up the hill and see if we couldn’t find the alternate route back. About this time, a light rain started falling (in addition to the mist from the falls).

The trail up the hill was a bit steep, and after about a third of a mile we reached the top of the ridge where the trail widened up and flattened out. After skirting the edge of several large puddles on the trail, we found a somewhat covered log to sit on and eat lunch. While the lower sections of the trail were warmer, the difference of a couple hundred feet higher made a big difference in the temperature. After a couple minutes of sitting down, out came the hats, gloves and extra layers.

Farther down the path, we met with a father and son who were following the same path in reverse order. They told us the path would continue on by Wallace Lake and the turned off to go back to the trailhead. For the next couple miles the path followed a relatively flat course along the top of the ridge, opening up onto a DNR road. Along the sides of the road, there were a few scattered patches of snow and the rain let up for a while.

Eventually, we came to a fork leading along the DNR road to pass Wallace Lake or several miles back to the trailhead. We opted for the latter, knowing that the other round would require backtracking or going very far out of the way . The path back to the car was really beautiful, there was more of the fuzzy green moss on the trees and the way was mostly downhill and the going was quick. About a half mile from where the side path rejoined the main path, there was a single-occupant restroom with a composting toilet, complete with hand sanitizer. As we made our way along the last mile of the trail after the turn-off,  we passed about a half dozen different people just making their way out.

We ended up going almost 10 miles according to my GPS. It seems that instead of the extended falls loop, we did most of the Wallace Falls/Lake Loop- not going the extra mile to go all the way to the lakeshore. In total, it took about 4.5 hours with plenty of stops along the way for pictures and snacks.