Icicle Gorge Loop Trail

Author's Comments

Sixteen miles up Icicle Creek Road and most of the Leavenworth crowd has fallen away. They stop at the breweries, at the lower trailheads, at the easy pullouts where the creek is already pretty enough. The gorge itself is further in, and quieter for it. I came here on a morning in early October when the vine maples were doing their loudest work, and what struck me first was not the color but the sound. Icicle Creek moves with real authority through this stretch, and the gorge holds the noise in close. The water runs that particular glacial blue-green that does not photograph easily in midday but turns luminous in the soft, sideways light of morning when the sun is still working its way over the ridge. The loop is four miles of old-growth cedar and Douglas fir, and the trail keeps the creek company the whole way. There are pour-overs and pools and sculpted rock that asks for a long exposure and a tripod you remembered to bring. The vine maples grow in the understory in scarlet patches against the dark evergreens, and the contrast is almost too easy. I worked mostly in detail here. The wide shots are harder than they look. The gorge is deep and the light is uneven and the best photographs I made were close studies of water moving over stone. Bring the Northwest Forest Pass. Come on a weekday if you can. This is not a secret exactly, but it feels like one, and the people who know it tend to keep a respectful quiet about it.

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