Boulder River Trail

The Boulder River Trail is loved as the only long, lowland, virgin-forested valley left in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Hiking this trail can give a glimpse of what it would have been like to walk from Puget Sound to the high Cascades. The trail is old, and once was the shortest route to Tupso Pass and the Three Fingers Mountain Fire Lookout. The hike is good in late spring when the high country is buried in snow or visit during a cloudy summer day as there are no distant views. Foresters estimate the age of some of the trees at 750 years. Look for old-growth Sitka spruce, silver fir, western red cedar, western hemlock, and Douglas-fir. Along the way are a few waterfalls that drop a long way down to Boulder River.

The trail starts by following an old railroad logging grade. The trail is wide & smooth as it passes through an old second growth forest, look for the massive stumps. At around 1 mile the trail is well above the river passing above Boulder Falls, hidden from view in a deep canyon. A campsite is hit, just below the trail. Then path narrows where the rails ended hitting cliffs. It enters the Boulder River Wilderness and soon reaches an un-named double waterfall dropping into the river. With kids, this is a popular place to end. Just past the falls is a good picnic area and better access down to the river. To continue on, the trail does a series of ups and downs. The trail goes a total of 4.5 miles to the end at Boulder Ford Camp. Here find many campsites. The trail once continued across the river but it is no longer easy to follow.

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