DrewKnight
Active member
A short family hike in Waterville -- five adults and six kids between 6 and 10 years old. We shuttled from the Snow's Mountain Parking lot to the bottom of Beanbender trail (the better to keep kid-whining to a minimum on launch). Once into the trees, everyone was very happy to be out and about on a cool, damp spring day, looking for fairy houses in the roots of trees and so on.
The Cascade Trail was in generally very good shape -- a lot of small step-over stream crossings, and some areas of mud which needed to be carefully skirted to avoid trail damage. In shady pockets above 1700 feet there are still patches of icy snow, which can be skirted or carefully skittered over.
The Cascades themselves were flowing spectacularly, swollen with both snow melt and recent rains. Crossing would have been a mean feat, and we kept to the right side of the Cascade for the climb up to Snow's Mountain Trail. Even so, kids needed to be careful of their footing on the wet rocks and roots. Snow's Mountain Trail to the top of the retired ski-area was largely dry and a nice stroll.
Overall, a great kid-friendly loop for a spring afternoon. Including a couple of Hershey's Kiss breaks, total time was just about two hours.
The Cascade Trail was in generally very good shape -- a lot of small step-over stream crossings, and some areas of mud which needed to be carefully skirted to avoid trail damage. In shady pockets above 1700 feet there are still patches of icy snow, which can be skirted or carefully skittered over.
The Cascades themselves were flowing spectacularly, swollen with both snow melt and recent rains. Crossing would have been a mean feat, and we kept to the right side of the Cascade for the climb up to Snow's Mountain Trail. Even so, kids needed to be careful of their footing on the wet rocks and roots. Snow's Mountain Trail to the top of the retired ski-area was largely dry and a nice stroll.
Overall, a great kid-friendly loop for a spring afternoon. Including a couple of Hershey's Kiss breaks, total time was just about two hours.
