Tokul Creek Gorge is the waterway that runs under the trestle at Tokul. With the heavy rains that had been falling in advance of my visit, the creek was flowing heavily. The trestle is a long way above the water so it was not easy to get a good look at it but I did try and get some shots. I also had a go at getting some video.
My walk along the trail up near Snoqualmie started and ended at a road that went above the old railroad bed. There was a small tunnel under the road. I assume this was once a proper rail tunnel or a bridge but the tunnel that is there now looks like a more modern construction. Even so, it is a little interesting so here are some shots of it.
More from my video editing catch up today. I posted about the Snoqualmie Falls being in flood earlier this year after extensive rain. I also shot some video that day. It gives a better idea of how the spray from the falls gets driven up the hillside near the viewing area whereupon is dumps down on the visitors. Here is the edited highlights.
In the parts of Washington where there is heavy tree cover and plenty of rain, you can get some serious growth of moss on the branches of the trees. Go to the rainforest out on the Olympic peninsula and there are plenty of examples of this but even in the hills around Snoqualmie, you can see such trees. The softer light during the winter helps show up the moss well with it almost appearing to glow in the shaded areas.
I saw one tree across the river from us and in direct light and it really stood out from the surrounding trees so I figured a shot had to be taken. On our side of the river there was plenty of moss too so here you have a single tree and then some close ups of other trees to show just how the moss dominates the trees. Of course, it isn’t very dense so doesn’t overwhelm the tree but it really makes the structure seem much beefier!
This was something my Mum spotted as we walked around Snoqualmie. The water droplets that had fallen on the leaves of the plants were really catching the light. From a distance they glistened like jewels on the leaf surface. Even closer up, they still sparkled.
Before tourism became a big feature of Snoqualmie, it was a logging town. Much of the Pacific Northwest was in the lumber business providing vast amounts of timber to the country as a whole. Lumber is still important but it is nowhere near the business it once was. The trees they were cutting in those days were very old and had grown to significant dimensions. As they cut through the growth, the trees they were cutting were getting smaller. In the center of the town they have an exhibit that includes a stand that was used for cutting the timber. In it is included a log. This thing is huge. Bear in mind that they were often much larger than this and you will see just what sort of trees they were cutting in those days.
Snoqualmie has an active historic railroad. While we were at the falls, a couple of times we saw a tourist train running along the opposite side of the falls taking visitors on a trip. We never got too close to the train itself while we were there but we did walk past one of the stations. It was a nicely restored building and contained some exhibits on the old services that used to operate there.
Also, parked out of the back was an old locomotive. It wasn’t going anywhere anymore but it did provide a great example to the visitors of the sort of steam loco that used to operate. Now it was possible to get up close and look at the amazingly complex mechanisms it included. Just outside town was another exhibit. This was a snow clearing machine for the railroad. Rather than a plow, it had a cutting head mounted on the front of the vehicle and a blower that could throw the snow in either direction as required. This example had been rebuilt a number of times prior to retirement but now it sat by the road for visitors to check out. (Being a black vehicle on a high sunny day meant it was also a pain to photograph!)
Walking across the bridge from the overflow parking to the top of Snoqualmie Falls, I looked down the river to the top of the falls just beyond the barriers to stop errant boaters getting too close. I also noticed something in the water below us. For a while I was trying to work out what it was. Then, courtesy of polarizing glasses, I could see through the reflections and make out the shape of some structure.
It looks to me like this was a previous bridge. It sits just below the current bridge alignment and looks like it would have been the right size and shape to be a bridge span. I wonder whether it collapsed or whether, when the replacement bridge was being built, it was simpler to dump the old span into the river than to take it away. There could be another explanation of course and maybe it isn’t even part of a bridge. However, it clearly is something man-made sitting on the bed of the river.
