Dirty Harry's Balcony and Peak

Difficulty: Moderate to Hard

Distance: Balcony 5 miles - Peak 11 miles

Discovery Pass  Required

We were joking as we were hiking up this old logging road that the hike was named after the wrong cinematic tough guy: instead of Dirty Harry, it should be called Rocky, as most of the time we were hoofing it over rocks and boulders. However, this trail was not named after Clint's gritty bad ass cop persona, but rather Harry Gault, the logger who actually forged the road many years ago. Despite the rocky assent, this hike is well worth your time, and the payoff is amazing.

The first half mile of this hike is walking down a road, as the parking lot is on the outside of the park gate. Head through the gate, down the road and across the bridge. Keep hoofing it for the half mile, and you will see the trail head on the right hand side (you will see a huge block of concrete marking the way): this is where it gets nice and rocky, but not difficult.

You are going to continue up the trail for about another 1.5 miles. There isn't a whole lot to see on this stretch, but the smell of cedar and the sound of the river make it a very pleasant hike. After about 1.5 miles you will come to a fork in the trail. This is very well marked (as you can see from the picture above), and you will be veering to the right here to head up to the balcony.

It's only about another half mile climb from this point, and the view is very worth it! This is a great place to relax, take in everything around you, and have a snack or lunch. There are plenty of places to sit and rest, and as this is not a hugely known hike, you will be sharing your moment with only a few people. Enjoy your accomplishment.

Now, here is the question you have to ask yourself at this point: Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? If you are in good shape (and I am serious about this), you are a pretty avid hiker, and you have an extra couple hours in your day, then let's continue on with this hike. If not, time to head back down to your car. Even at this point, the hike was well worth your time, and it's definitely one we will be doing again when short on time or energy. For those adventuresome few, follow us up to the peak. You are going to go back the way you came, and at the fork instead of heading down the mountain back to your car, you are going to head up..... up, and up.

At first, Aaron and I were thinking this hike wasn't all that. It's just more of what we have been doing for the last couple of miles. It was a great walk, a few peaks of a view here and there, and even a pretty cascading creek at one point:

and then.......... we left the logging road, and holy steep! There were a few times where I actually laughed because it was comically steep.

At this point it is very easy to lose your way if you don't know what you are doing and how to read a trail. Keep your eyes open for the cairns and pink ribbon in the trees to stay on course. (if you look close at the picture above, you can see a pink ribbon above Aaron's head). This becomes especially difficult further up, since you are pretty much hiking through an entire rock village. As a matter of fact, we never really made it to the actual "peak" as we kind-of lost the trail markers in the debris, and were completely satisfied with the snow pond we ended up at. It was a great place for another refueling snack before heading back down.

Directions: From Seattle drive east on I-90 to exit 38. After exiting, turn right onto Homestead Road and follow this for 2 miles. Pass under I-90 and continue for another 1/4 mile to a small parking lot. Park outside the gate, as they close this occasionally for fire drills, and there is no parking on the side of the road inside the gate. Start walking down the road until you come to the concrete block mentioned above.