Snoqualmie Pass

With all of the recent rains, I thought it would be a great idea to throw the kids in the car and go up to Snoqualmie Falls. I had been up recently the last time the river was high so I figured this time would be even better. Well I was mistaken. (and a bit surprised) It seems we were a day or two too late, the river had already crested and was on it's way back down to normal levels. The kids were still blown away by the falls but I admit I was a bit disappointed. We didn't stay long and were soon back in the car heading home when Ian said that it was a shame that we came all this way to not stay so long. I said well, we could go up to the pass and look for snow. They both agreed so we were on our way.

The Snaoqualmie Pass is the route you take across the Cascades on I90. Similar to the mountain crossing in Virginia, the elevation is high and the weather is most times bad during Winter months. I knew there was some weather in the area so I was cautious to insure that we would not get stuck on the pass with out traction tires or chains. As we climbed the mountain sure enough as I predicted, the temperature quickly dropped to freezing and the rain quickly changed to snow. the road was still wet so we decided to try to make it to the top. As we got higher the snow got deeper along the sides of the road. I remember Brandon remarking on how the snow wasn't really that deep, it was just pushed up along the sides of the road. He was right but I knew we were in for a real treat.

As we reached the top we pulled off on the exit for the ski resort and made our way toward someplace to park. The boys about peed themselves when they realized how deep the snow was. I would imagine it was about 5 or 6 feet deep with drifts up to 10 to 15 feet. Definitely more snow than they'd ever seen. Needless to say they couldn't get out of the car fast enough. My only concern was the fact that they weren't really dressed for the snow but kids don't seem to really care I guess.

We found a great river and I took some shots as the kids played. What a treat that was for all of us. I had been up on the pass many times but never really had a chance to get out and look around. It was a true winter wonderland with the snow falling. I will not soon forget that little side trip...neither will the boys I think.