Labor Day weekend marked Wenrui’s second visit to Seattle. She requested a hike last trip, but the extremely cold weather and snow potential kept us home. This time, we were apprehensive of the above-90’s temperature and smoke from wildfires in Canada and Eastern Washington. Luckily, however, the air cleared and the temperature fell just before she flew in.

When we arrived at the trailhead, we started hiking up an old forest service road that was covered in a mix of gravel and grass. A ways in, we realized that we hadn’t hit the waterfall that was supposed to be near the trail’s start, and in fact, we could see people walking on a different path below us. We turned around and found the actual trail hidden behind the informational sign at the trailhead. In retrospect, we should have paid more attention to the “Do Not Enter” sign on the forest service road entrance; the sign didn’t just apply to cars!

The waterfall was located about 0.2 miles from the trailhead, and a nice and solid wood bridge spanned it. We stopped here to take some pictures. Some time later, we walked down the length of a huge diameter, ~30 ft. long felled tree that had stairs cut into the top. I have fantastic friends: Jake and Wenrui both started jumping on the log to make it flex and shake, which of course made me exclaim somewhat loudly.

Annette Lake is nestled between several peaks, and its banks are scattered with fallen logs. After walking around the lake and through someone’s campsite, we found a nice log to sit on. Some conclusions from our trail mix lunch: nut mixes eaten while hiking should have salt, and dried apricots are always wonderful, no matter the occasion.

After the hike, we treated ourselves to Broiler Bay fries, onion rings, and strawberry shakes. We earned it!