Snoqualmie, Washington - July 11th to 12th, 2024
Snoqualmie was less than an hour’s drive from Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, where we were camping. We spent two days exploring the area. It had a nice combination of touristy little town and lovely hiking trails. The most popular attraction is Snoqualmie Falls.
Thursday we drove over to Snoqualmie Falls. It took us about an hour to get there from Kanaskat-Palmer State Park. The falls are located close to downtown Snoqualmie. There is paid parking right next to the top of the falls and a large, free lot right across the street. We opted for the free parking and walked over the pedestrian bridge to reach the falls. There is also parking down at the lower viewing area next to the river access, but it is a small lot.
The falls are very popular. It is a 268 foot waterfall with two hydroelectric plants. Fortunately, the power plants are located so as to not detract from the beauty of the falls. There are two viewing areas, an upper and a lower, with a trail through the woods, connecting the two areas, less than a mile long. Informational signs are scattered around the viewing areas and along the trail which explain the history of the area, the power plants, and the local plants and animals.
We started at the upper viewing area and walked the trail down to the lower viewing area, along with checking out the river access. By the time we returned to the upper viewing area, we had gone 1.9 miles with an elevation gain of 435 feet, spending less than an hour in total. Even though we worked up a sweat walking back up the hill, we didn’t count it towards our 52 Hike Challenge.
Several people told us that this is the low flow season for the falls. The falls looked like it was gushing and impressive to us. But there is even a higher flow of water in the spring due to snow melt and in the fall and winter due to the rainy season.
At the top of the falls is the Salish Lodge and Spa. A friend of ours who lives locally recommended the restaurant inside the lodge, so we stopped in to see if we could get a table for lunch. It was only a 20 minute wait for a table, so we decided to wait.
We were seated somewhat near a window, but there was scaffolding on the outside of the building due to some renovations, which blocked the view of the falls. We both ordered the chicken sandwich with fries. Yes, there were more interesting items on the menu, including several fish and seafood options, but for some reason the chicken appealed to us that day. Keith was a little disappointed to see that we arrived just when they stopped serving brunch. Some of the brunch items at the tables around us looked delicious. Our chicken was excellently prepared and we enjoyed every bite.
A buttermilk biscuit is served with every meal. The biscuit is served with a side of honey butter and marmalade. Our waitress asked if we wanted honey on our biscuits and we declined. We later learned that was a mistake. Get the honey. It’s a thing. The waitress will bring the honey out and drizzle it on top of the biscuit by holding the spoon above her head and letting the honey fall several feet to your plate. It’s a tradition.
We were curious where the names Salish and Snoqualmie came from, so we looked it up. Snoqualmie is the tribe located in the area, a subgroup of the Coast Salish.
Friday we drove over to Rattlesnake Lake Recreation Area. The recreation area is owned by the Seattle Public Utilities as a non-development buffer to protect the municipal watershed lands for the Seattle area. Gas-powered boats are not allowed on the lake, so it is a wonderful place to paddle, fish, and swim. There is also a hiking trail up to Rattlesnake Ledge and beyond. We were there for the hiking trail.
The large parking lot is free of charge. We didn’t have a problem getting a spot at 10:30 am on a Friday morning, but it was pretty full by early afternoon. Keith’s shoulder started bothering him the day before, so he decided to hang out at Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO). Ann helped him set up Starlink, so he was all set for a while. The temperatures were cool enough that he was comfortable inside with the windows open and the fans running.
Ann hiked by herself up to the first ledge. It was a popular trail, so there were quite a few people on the trail. She’s sure it would be even more crowded on a weekend. But it was still an enjoyable hike through the woods. There isn’t much of a view until you reach the ledge. Then there are wonderful views back down to the lake and out across the mountains. There were about 30 people at the ledge hanging out and enjoying the view. Ann found a little place to sit down and eat her lunch with a wonderful backdrop.
From there, she headed back down. She should have checked the AllTrails route a little closer, as there were two more ledges with views just a short distance further up the trail. She looked at the posted trail sign at the ledge, and all it mentioned was that East Peak was over two miles further. She didn’t want to hike that far, so she headed back down. If she would have realized there were two more viewpoints a short distance away, she would have continued, because the trail was pretty easy going.
The route in AllTrails lists the trail as 5.3 miles with an elevation gain of 1469 feet. However, Ann only went 4.8 miles with an elevation gain of 1178 feet, which she completed in two hours and 41 minutes. Even though Keith didn’t go, we counted it as hike number 36 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.
After the hike, we drove to historic downtown Snoqualmie for ice cream. The original location of Snoqualmie Ice Cream burnt down recently, but there is a temporary location just around the block while they rebuild. Keith had his usual vanilla shake, but Ann deviated from her normal pick of flavors to try a scoop of Yakima peach and a scoop of honey lavender. They were both delicious and refreshing.
After our treat, we strolled around town. Snoqualmie is a cute little, touristy town. There is a railway museum and a two hour train ride that goes to the North Bend Depot and the top of Snoqualmie Falls. The front of the train looks like Thomas the Tank Engine.
Not far from the museum is the Snoqualmie Centennial Log Pavilion, which displays a large log on a wheeled carriage. Snoqualmie used to be a big lumber town. Wheeled carriages, like the one on display, were used to move ten to fifteen foot diameter logs through a large band saw for milling.
Our drive back to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park took longer than all of our previous trips back and forth to the Snoqualmie area. The highway 18 (Snoqualmie Parkway) was under construction and the late Friday afternoon traffic compounded the issue. It took us 25 minutes to get through the intersection where highway 18 passes under I-90. What a mess! Even though Snoqualmie is only about 25 miles from Kanaskat-Palmer, it took us about an hour and a half to get back.
We enjoyed visiting the Snoqualmie area, but we were thankful we were camping at Kanaskat-Palmer. The more time we spend in the woods and remote locations, the less tolerance we have for crowds of people and heavy traffic. So it was nice to spend the day in Snoqualmie, then return to Kanaskat-Palmer in the evening to recharge ourselves for another day.
Check out our related video: Snoqualmie, Washington
(Ann)