Hester Lake via Dingford Creek Trail

The Dingford Creek trail had two large blowdowns before the trail forks to Myrtle Lake and Hester Lake. After the trail forks, the trail to Hester lake was a swamp, lots of water, mud, slippery roots, and tippy creek crossings. The forest the trail passes through is absolutely beautiful, my favorite feature was all the fantastic old cedars, unfortunately I spent most of my time watching the ground trying to keep from stepping in ankle deep mud or from slipping. Harvey Manning says the forest service is deliberately not maintaining this trail for people who want a less populated wilderness experience, it seems to me like the jarring Middle Fork Road after the Taylor River crossing should do that job fine (I prefer to take the road on my mountain bike instead of my car). We only met two parties going to Myrtle Lake and one going to Hester Lake.

All told it was a pleasant hike through a truly beautiful forest, but I'd wait until a dry spell before doing the hike again.

Date:

2004/06/12

Trip type:

hike

USGS quad:

Snoqualmie Lake

References

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