A magical place

A few years ago I bought a book that had some of the best hikes to do with kids in the Olympics, San Juans and Cascades. On my first read-though I doggeared several hikes and this was one of them. Called Denny Creek, about an hour from our house and so worth the drive and hike. If you did not know what was ahead on the trail the trailhead might turn-off ardent backcountry types. The campground where we parked (but did not camp) is wedged in between separate east and west highways of I-90. But the highways are over 100 - feet above your head. Taller than the old growth trees. As we hiked to our destination we went under one of the highways. Wierd. As we hiked further up the creek the roar of the cars (which really wasn't bad) was replaced by the roar of the crystal clear mountain water rushing down all the rocks. C did a great job hiking. B is still under the weather so I hauled her and E hauled M. After 40 minutes of hiking through lush Northwest green forests, we arrived at the coolest wonderland. The rocks on Denny creek have been worn smooth and the water level is low enough that it just spills over the rocks in small rivers, whirlpools and eddies. Nothing deep enough to be too worrysome, nothing steep or to sharp. It is aptly named the Denny Creek slide. We could have stayed all day but we knew we had to get three kids 40 minutes back to the car and two of them were kinda cranky. C would have said See-Ya if we said he could stay there without us. Being a weekend it began to crowd up around noon. I think during the week - or in the fall there would be a good chance of having this lovely spot all to yourself.