My coworker, Kent Biden, had previously come out with his wife and hiked Rattlesnake Ledge with me. Indicating interest in hiking again, he came out on Saturday the 1st, alone this time, and we drove up to the Twin Falls trail near the house. It was clear & comfortably cool out, mid 60’s, and there were only a handful of cars at the trailhead at 8am. We began our hike along the river and started the uphill in a half mile. It suddenly got very warm, which always happens when you really start working out.
It only took 40 minutes to get to the bridge overlook and after a few minutes to catch our breath we continued up. It was really a very nice day, but in the woods it was surprisingly humid. So the coolness at the start, no longer felt so nice. I can’t speak for Kent, but I was feeling soaked by the time we got up to the John Wayne trail, the old rail-trail. But with more sun out there, we dried a little quicker too.
He had the time, so we started walking east on nearly level train trail. We passed the trailhead up Mt. Washington, then continued about a mile to the first trestle, where there are some big rock cliffs that many rock climbers practice on. There were maybe a dozen people doing just that, so we took a couple pics and watched for a few minutes before turning around and heading back. To this point was about 3.5 miles.
Heading back the way we came, there was a slight breeze which felt wonderful and cooling. It was just about 10:30 and we walked steadily down past the falls and to the car, and arrived home about 11:30, giving us just enough time for a beer break before Kent had to head home. 7 miles in 3.5 hours with no rush and lots of little stops. Enjoyable!
I probably shouldn’t have had that beer though, because after I had a bite to eat, I got REAL tired and just couldn’t make myself get up and do other chores. I felt fine while we were drinking the beer, but maybe it was the sandwich too which affected me. I really wanted to take a nap but didn’t. Anyway, it was 3pm before I finally got my energy back and got out in the garage. Perhaps it was the 90 degrees that did it.
On Sunday, I had the truck washed by 8am, and Wendy headed to work at 10. I moved the truck into the garage and it got its first cleaning and waxing in 2 years. My shoulder was(is) sore, but I was still done by 4pm, and Wendy got home at 6:30. She had gotten a mailing from the new Snoqualmie Casino with a couple coupons, so I suggested we use them and go to dinner, my belated birthday dinner. I hadn’t been there yet, and aside from the slots, it was a pretty cool place, and very busy too for a Sunday evening. The coupons she had were: 2 for 1 in the main buffet, good Sunday thru Thursday, but this night was all you can eat King Crab, along with all the other usual foods available in a buffet. Not bad either. The normal price was $29.95 per person; the other coupon was $10 cash, which of course they want you to use gambling. But we didn’t bother with any of that, and that brought the meal down to 19.95 for both of us, no alcohol. I was comfortably full, not stuffed, but felt like I should have eaten more to get my money’s worth. But it was nearly 9pm and I sure didn’t want to go to bed on that full a stomach!
While we ate, we ran into our neighbor Craig Johnson’s mom, who I guess goes there frequently. Wendy also saw an old aquaintance from Bank of America that now works at the Casino. And of course I was quite surprised(really?) at the apparent high number of people just sitting around gambling, most looking rather poor or older. And lots of Asians in the buffet and restaurants. This place is really huge and must use the same amount of electricity as the city of North Bend, if not more. In all, I’d go back again, especially for a meal deal like we had. It was surprisingly good.