It’s been a crazy few weeks with all these adventures, but I wanted to be sure we get to as many as we can before the summer kicks in full swing and then I feel like I’m dying when we’re out there. It was a little like that on this trip to Bridal Veil Falls, but at the end, it was all worth it.

It’s kind of confusing because there are literally 6 different Bridal Veil Falls in the United States, two being in Washington, but this one is located right in the heart of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. If you live in the Seattle area, then you’re in for a treat because you’re only about an hour from the trailhead. Unfortunately for us, we were a bit further than that. My only issue I have with going on these adventures is now they’re getting further and further away. This one was about a 3 hour drive-one way-for us. Luckily, Raylee does pretty good in the car, and I just have to make sure her iPad is charge so she can watch movies. She usually falls asleep on the way home because it’s EXHAUSTING sitting in her carrier while I do the work. HA!

The older Raylee gets, the more she hates sitting in her carrier when we go on hikes. She wants to find sticks, throw rocks into the water, and sit down on every bigger rock on the trail. This makes our miles not very fast, but I let her have her fun. She eventually gets tired of walking and that’s when I put her up in her carrier and keep trucking along at a much quicker pace. I LOVE using my apple watch to track when we go on our hikes!!! It gives me my average pace, and shows us our path. It’s pretty fun to see afterwards!

The hike to Bridal Veil Falls was 4.16 miles with a gain of 879 feet. For the first mile and a half is was a pretty easy hike. It slowly gains in elevation, and you get to cross a little creek on some rocks a few times. There’s a few smaller little streams that trickle over the path making things a little muddy, but all in all, it was a pretty great hike. Then you get to the Y of the trail to either head to Bridal Veils, or continue on to Lake Serene for 2 grueling miles. Someday i’ll come back and hike that, but without a toddler. Once you get to the Y, things start to get a bit more intense. You find yourself faced with rock stairs as well as man made stairs to hike your way up the mountain. Fortunately for me, Raylee is a champ at steps and she LOVED climbing all over the rocks so I didn’t have to carry her for that. Our way UP the mountain took about and hour and 45 minutes and Raylee probably hiked about a mile of the 2. She’s a trooper. Then it happens. The temperature starts to get cooler, and the air more humid. You can hear the water crashing down on the rocks below, and before you know it, you’re staring up at a huge 100 foot rock face with water pound down. I’m not sure what the falls look like without the spring run off, but I’m sure it’s a little safer to explore beyond the railways, but on the day we went up there, I wasn’t interested in slipping on rocks and dying so we stuck to the trail.

Once you get up to the falls, the trail loops around to get a different view of the falls from below, and it’s just as majestic! We didn’t stay up there too long, because I knew we still have 2 miles to go back down the mountain, and a 3+ hour drive, and I didn’t want to get home after dinner. There were quite a bit of people on the trail besides us. We got to the trailhead about 11:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, and found parking no problem. When we got back to the parking lot at 2:10, it was a bit more full. Most of the people on the trail were courteous. We did see MANY dogs not on leashes, but that doesn’t bother me much. What does bother me is the people smoking pot along the trail. That’s not really okay….even if it is legal in WA. Anyways…

We had a good hike, Raylee got to pet some doggies, climb over rocks, hike up about a zillion stairs, and fell asleep in her carrier on the way down. It was a warm sunny day, and we got to find yet another great waterfall! 🙂

Bridal Veil Falls Hike

2 hours 27 min-4.16 miles-879 feet gain
Mile 1: 36’26”
Mile 2: 53’16” –this was the hard part, and when Raylee was hiking up all the rocks.
Miles 3: 31’10”
Mile 4: 20’57”

Bridal Veil Falls Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest Adventures with Raylee sitting on trail