Carter Falls


 Twice we tried to get to Paradise. Twice we were denied. But the good thing about Paradise is that even when you can’t quite get there, the Paradise suburbs are pretty nice, too.


We set out to drive to Paradise on the first weekend we were living at Elbe, knowing that the road might close early in the winter due to snow. Too late – we were met with a closed gate at Longmire. Although it was only rainy there, Paradise was snow-covered and the federal government shutdown had left the National Park Service with limited staff to deal with the roads. We settled for the little Twin Firs loop mentioned in a previous post.

The following weekend the same thing happened, but this time we were better dressed so we braved the chilly, rainy weather and set out on the Wonderland Trail. The few miles we hiked were well-maintained. There was a neat log bridge across the river. It didn’t seem all that high off the water line, and we wondered why it didn’t wash out. We
continued on to Carter Falls, then turned about.

The following weekend we stopped back by the Wonderland Trail and got our answer to why the log bridge doesn’t wash out when the river gets up. It does. 



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