A day with Jara...

...that's what I may call the hike to Wallace Falls. Jara is the dog of a new friend, Claudio (I hope I got the name right), that we met the same day (April 23, 2006). I am generally afraid of dogs but I have realized after coming to the US and meeting so many pets of my friends that after some time I feel fine with them. But, Jara was an exceptionally friendly and well behaved dog and he almost became a good friend of Tarun. Jara is an Australian name for a particular type of exquisite wood.

That Sunday was a beautiful day, bright and sunny. Srijan, Amol, Arindam, Claudio, Tarun and me, we all met at the University of Washington Ave and headed towards the Wallace Falls State Park. It was a short drive of about an hour but that day we wounld't have minded driving a little bit more. As well expected, we arrived at the Wallace Falls State Park and found the parking lot to be nearly full. So there will be many more fellow hikers today... we thought. The sign board at the entry showed that there are three levels to the Wallace Falls hike: lower, middle and upper falls. Upper Falls was obviously what we were looking for, 6.5 miles roundtrip. We started on the Woody trail. A well built path makes its way upward and onward, climbing 1,200-feet to the falls. One can see evolved(?) trees along the way. I found it strange to see how trees have grown again from where they were cut or broken. True to what we had expected before, we met lots of people along the way, even small children. The hike up can be considered to be steep but a lot of fun under the shade of trees. Leading our way, however, was Jara and the poor thing had to always come back to check on whether all of us were still together.

About a mile or so up we reached the Lower Falls and crossed over a bridge along the way. The roar of the Wallace and its crystal clear water is beauty of the whole hike. Lower Falls makes quite a view and very approriately leaves people longing for more. We stopped to watch the Lower Falls for a bit and then moved on. After about 2.0 miles we reached the Middle Falls. Well, actually after watching Middle Falls I realized Lower Falls were hardly a fall. We stopped to rest there for some time and just to enjoy the beauty of the falls and the scenic skykomish valley around it. Tarun sat on the bench and within no time Jara was sitting next to him. They two made quite an awesome picture to click and all of us did just that. Jara seemed to have learned about posing for camera :). Suddenly Jara put his paw on Tarun's lap as if they were friends forever, that was a "kodak moment". I thought that was really cute.

After some time we moved on and hiked until the Upper Falls. I personally think that Middle falls, with landing of the falls in a big splash on to the rocks and the mersmerizing mist, was far more beautiful than the Upper Falls. At the Upper Falls we saw a notice prohibiting people to go into the woods not maintained by the state park on account of getting lost. We all thought instead. That notice was probably for people getting up there in the dark and not able to make out the few signs posted on the trees. The map showed there was a loop further from that point into the woods to the parking area. So we decided to venture into the forbidden zone. After only a few steps we came up to a trail which would actually lead us to the parking area. There we decided to halt for a bit for a quick lunch and Amol found a perfect place, right by a stream. There was hardly a place for everyone to sit but we all managed. Jara enjoyed the most in the water. We all finished our lunch and Jara his fun with water. Claudio pulled him back up to the ground and then as we all expected Jara gave a huge shrug off and we all were showered with water.

We then continued on our long walk to the Wallace Lake, which was almost flat. I can't remember how long it was but it seemed long and along the way I had to bear some poor jokes from Arindam, Srijan and Amol. So much so that calling that poor would be a euphemism. Anyway, strolling across we reached the Wallace Lake. The trail down to the beach is rocky and we had to go through drooping trees and a puddle of water, but the vista from the beach is inexplicable. It seems there cannot be a better heaven anywhere else, our earth right here has so much to offer. I can't help but remember Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening" ... and miles to go before I sleep. The peaceful lake infused some kind of serenity in me as I sat on a log of wood just watching the lake and Mount Pilchuck beyond.

But the calm was almost broken by Jara who had a blast in the lake chasing the stick Claudio was throwing for him. He would swim across the lake bring back the stick, go in a corner to shrug off and back into the lake again. After spending quite some time there throwing stones in the lake, we headed back to the parking area which seemed more difficult to find than we had initially thought. One trail said that it would be 6.5 miles and the other 4.5 miles. The errors by the state park in calculating the miles and coverting them to km made it difficult even further. We picked up a trail into the forest rather than around it just because it was shorter. It turned out to be a steep downhill and so we all ran down making our way through the soggy and muddy trail. There down the hill we found signs for parking area. We completed the hike in a good time and it was before 6:30 pm that we reached back in Seattle. It was another great hike we struck off from our list. I seem to now be at ease with 9-10 miles hikes...just waiting to know which would be the next one...