Dog Rating:   
Difficulty: Moderate

Today was our first trip out to go hiking. After driving for about an hour to reach the trailhead, we got a little confused right before the trailhead and ended up exploring a closed camp ground. We eventually realized it couldn’t be the right place and got back in the car. We finally found the right trailhead, strapped on our packs and charged off into the unfamiliar at around 1pm. There was a large part camped near the beginning of the trail on the bank of the Taylor River. We continued on up the trail and travelled for a mile or so before seeing another hiker. Except for one creek crossing, the trail was largely clear between the trailhead and the Marten Creek bridge. There were several small creeks that crossed under the trail through culverts which added to the scenery.

 

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We continued on up the trail and it progressively deteriorated as we walked. We climbed over the large rockslide about and crossed an ever bigger creek. Those normal obstacles were supplemented by several downed trees. Prior to Marten creek, the trees had been mostly cleared but after the bridge most of them were intact. After a while we reached several downed trees and decided not to proceed farther as it was difficult lifting the Spammysaur over the larger ones while trying to scale them myself. We stopped for “lunch”. By this time it was about 4pm.

The falls at Marten Creek
 

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After finishing our munchies, we started the trek back to the car. Sam was starting to get tired by this point. So I lifted her over most of the obstacles. We met many dogs on the trail, mostly unleashed without a pack. Sam’s pack was a conversation starter numerous times. We managed to completely dunk our hiking boots in the bigger creek so we stopped to swap socks and drain our shoes. Gore-tex doesn’t protect too well if the water is deeper than the boot. I’m just glad my boy scout childhood burned in the “be prepared” concept and I had spare socks for each of us.

Foot dunking creek


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We met a nice couple on the last mile of the trail who had just moved up here from North Carolina. They had randomly picked the trail as their first the day before from the Best Hikes With Dogs - Western Washington book. This was amusing because it was largely the identical set of events we had used at the same time. As a rule, hikers are very friendly.

Daniel (Spam-dog’s personal assistant)