The Hike to Wallace Falls Calls One and All

Special to The SunBreak by John Hieger

So last Monday I'm hiking to Wallace Falls, and hear a commotion coming down the trail towards me.

"Did you hit your sister?" asks a heavy-breathing lady as they rumble around a stump wearing a fern like a mohawk.

"But she hit me first." The indignant five-year-old protests, appalled that his retributive justice is being called into question.

It’s good to know the Code of Hammurabi still has its adherents in the foothills of Stevens Pass, and that the annual rite of passage that sees parents marching tired, unappreciative children up mountain slopes continues to bring the same chorus of whining and sibling infighting that's plagued these very hills since yours truly was once himself an ingrate hiker.

Some people associate Walden Pond-like solitude with the ideal outdoorsy experience and while that kind of trip has its place, popular attractions like Wallace Falls shouldn't be missed simply because the kid-and-hyper-dog-to-hiker ratio is higher than Ron Artest.

Hiking is a great people-watching--sometimes a crowd means more eye candy to check out. It's always fun to see the look the partner shoots you as you check out their better half in passing.

Trail access is just off Highway 2 in Gold Bar. No Honda-killing crawl down a pot-holed Weyerhauser mountain road is required to get to the trailhead; the parking lot is even paved.

Part of hiking's charm is that driving through the Gold Bars of America feels like rummaging through a time capsule of the small-town America that lives in John Couger Mellencamp videos, only with opportunistic espresso huts positioned right on the main strip to seduce the passing city folk.

The big waterfall you can see from the highway--if you look to your left while driving eastbound through Gold Bar--is the destination. Roundtrip to the upper falls took me two-and-a-half hours and that's taking in 1,200 feet of elevation gain. There are lower and middle falls that offer great views, but if you're going to bother spending all that time and gas driving this far, you might as well schlep yourself to the upper falls and get the adequate cardio.

The good hikes are still several weeks away, but there aren’t many preseason trails better to prime your legs on than this reliable stretch, popular as always with brats young and old.