Beginner Snowshoe - Franklin Falls

We snowshoed from Snoqualmie Pass to the Denny Creek Campground, a distance of 5 ¼ miles, in 5 hours, gaining in total 770’ of elevation.  Walking the road from the parking lot to trailhead involved the usual perils of traffic, with the addition of icy patches and steep, hard snow to get over the berm.  A well beaten trail led down the old road and onto the trails to the falls and along the river to the campground.  The snow, while not actually icy, was hard enough that most of us used microspikes the whole way rather than snowshoes.  Log crossings on narrow snow bridges of rivulets were at times narrow enough to require attention.  The falls were free of ice; their final approach was by a narrow, exposed snow ramp. It was a beautiful trip, both for the falls and for the forest trail by the rushing Snoqualmie River. I’m surprised I had never done it before.