Denny Creek Water Slide

Looking up at the I-90 bridge


Water slide area of Denny Creek

After yesterdays climb, I am feeling a bit tired in the legs, so I was glad the plan for today called for a short hike to the Denny Creek Water Slide off of I-90. Knowing it would likely be crowded I tried to get there early. When I got to the trail head at 9:45ish, the parking for both Franklin Falls and Denny Creek were already overflowing. However, the trail up to Denny Creek had very few people on it and the water slide area itself had only one other family there when I arrived at 10:45. I picked out a spot on the rocks, took of my boots and socks and settled down for an hour or so of reading. That was the plan anyway...there were flies. Lot's of them. Thankfully today's flies were not the biting sort as yesterday's were, but they were still annoying and didn't seem to mind that I covered myself with Off, to no effect (although one unfortunate fly did happen to land on my arm at the same moment I was spraying there and he promptly fell to the ground, landing on his back with his little fly-legs flailing in the air, amusing in a morbid sort of way). I did manage to get in about 30min of relaxed reading before a steady stream of people started coming off the trail at about 11:30 or so. I headed back about this time leaving the flies behind for others to enjoy.

On my way back I started noticing in nearly all the couples hiking the trail together, the guy was the one carrying the pack. While the woman was unburdened. Thinking back to yesterday's hike, I recalled I also saw the same thing on the Excelsior trail. The independent part of me noted this and thought "I can carry my own stuff just fine, and not have any problems!". Meanwhile, the tired, sweaty, sore part of me thought "I would LOVE to have my own sherpa!" and made a mental not to move 'find boyfriend/sherpa' up a few notches on my list of things to do.

This trail is rated as 'easy' in two different guidebooks I have. It's certainly not long, but you do gain 500' in elevation in just over a mile, so it's by no means a stroll in the park. However, it is entirely doable for families with kids large and small (as evidenced by all the folks at the water slide). One of the more impressive parts of the trail is when it crosses under I-90. It is an amazing view of the bridge high above you.

As I was walking back from the trail head to my car (I ended up parking about 1/4 mile away), I noticed a lot of vehicles did not have trail passes. I counted 21, probably close to 1/3 of the total amount of vehicles parked. For most trail heads in the area a trail pass is required and rangers do check. I forgot to put mine out one time and luckily only received a warning, but it could easily have been a ticket. If you're planning a hike, make sure you check if the trail you are planning on hiking requires a trail pass and make sure you get one! Nothing would ruin a day of great hiking more than returning to your car only to find a ticket on your windshield.