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11-19-06 Siouxon Creek Posted by worldofaaron (2006-11-21)

We caught a nice break in the weather on Saturday, so we headed out to this hike from the "60 Hikes" book.  Paul nailed this hike with this description:  "It's just a beatiful river in a peaceful, lush, tree-filled canyon, with waterfalls all over the place and not too many hikers."  The creek itself looks like a river with all the water in it right now.  Every side-creek is in full glory, too.  On to the photos: Horseshoe Falls - I never did get a good angle because we didn't take the side trail to the bottom viewpoint.  This is from above. Horseshoe Falls, just under the bridge (top of falls). Mushrooms, catching some rays as the sun set sank low (yes, actual sunlight, caught on camera!) Chinook Falls (I think)  The pictures don't do it justice...this thing is a monster on video (and in real life). We decided to turn around here when we realized that our "reset-buttons" had already been pushed by this easy, perfect day in the middle of fall.  This hike was just what we needed after a month of limited outdoor time.  Full set of pics can be found here.

Re: 11-19-06 Siouxon Creek Posted by Bill Bens (2006-11-21)

Aaron, I enjoyed your photos of Siouxon Creek which is one of my favorite hikes on the Washington side.

Re: 11-19-06 Siouxon Creek Posted by OneSpeed (2006-11-23)

Thanks, Aaron! Again, glad to see my book getting some use. I'm expanding that chapter for the third edition, because one day I wandered up the trail past the turnoff for Chinook Falls, and lo and behold, there's about three more miles of scenic trail up there, and several more waterfalls -- and NOBODY talks about going up there. I looked in three other guidebooks, and everybody talks about Chinook Falls as the end of the road. Also, nobody gives much hype to Wildcat Falls, which is the most impressive thing around. And, finally, there's Siouxon Peak to climb -- about 3,200 feet in 3.5 miles -- which also gets scant, if any, mention. All these shortcomings will be corrected in my third edition! Meanwhile, thanks for sharing some great pictures. That area is also an excellent, early-season backpack destination.

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