Could not have been a better day for this trip. Started with fog, burned off quickly, clear skies at the trail head, 60 degrees by noon. The first mile is a good warm up: an easy incline to a small rest area. Miles 2 & 3 cover a lot of elevation, good push but doable. Last mile to the top was a mix of small switch backs and steps. The last half a mile to the summit contained quite a bit of wet snow and heavily saturated mud, so wear some shoes with good traction so you don't slip and/or fall like we did. Views at the top offer an awesome panorama ranging from a great view of the Rainier glaciers, the distant skylines of Seattle and Bellevue, the Snoqualmie River valley, and the coastal areas of King and Snohomish Counties. Attempting to climb to the spires of the mountain is a daunting, if not fairly dangerous pursuit--the exposed rock was wet and unstable in many areas. Mind your lunch. The mountain birds have become acquainted with picnicking hikers and will try to steal food out of your hand if you offer them an opportunity. As cute as they are, once they get a bite from you they wont leave you alone. That is, unless you run out of bread and start offering them generic saltine crackers. They ditched us shortly after that stint....
Snoqualmie Brewery and Tap House was not far away. Follow the signs from I-90. The place is just off the main highway drag through the town. Keep in mind that the seating might be limited if it's a popular place that day. The beers were decent. The PGA, Perfectly Great Amber, was much better than expected, and gained an interest in Bryan who typically shys away from ambers. We weren't too impressed with their nitro pale, but their hefeweizen was pretty refreshing. Not a big heavy, dark beer joint. Sadly, the smoked porter was the only beer they did not offer in the taster.
The hike roundtrip was about 4 hours including a relaxing lunch. The drive from trailhead to brewery was less than twenty minutes. The parking at the trailhead was huge, and although we thought it was fairly packed when we arrived at 10am, the lot was completely full plus the occasional awkward-parked car deep in the bushes or making an extra space within the drive ways. The morning atmosphere was comfy, and we felt bad for the poor devils starting the ascent by the end of our descent when the air had warmed up and started to get a little dead and humid. We noticed quite a few dogs and corresponding doggie-doo bags on the way down. Not to worry though; I'm sure the owners collected them on the way back. Still...they started to smell as the day warmed up and the air died.
