Having never hiked the Deadfall Trail and eager to stretch my legs after the holidays, I set off on the trail up Mt Zion with Cheryl and Vivien. Wow, I guess I underestimated how out of shape I had gotten over the last few months. The ladies left me in the dust right from the very start. I was having some serious leg cramps. I think it was from the extra ten lbs or so I had put on over the holidays. Boy did I feel like a shmuck! At any rate, this was the second time I had been up Mt Zion. Like the first time, it was cloudy and no views all day. Unlike the Mt Zion Trail, the Deadfall Trail gains almost a thousand more feet of elevation gain. One irritating aspect of the trail is that it gains a bunch of elevation and then goes and loses 3 or 4 hundred feet of it as it drops down to meet up with the Snow Creek Trail before it starts climbing again. You'll get to lose and gain this elevation again on the return so try not to think about it too much. All in all it was an OK day and fun to meet a new friend (Vivien) and to see Cheryl. It was definitely a wake up call to get my ass in shape if I thought I was going to be doing any serious hiking this year.
Directions to the Trailhead: From Quilcene, WA travel north on US Highway 101 for about 1.5 miles and take the Lords Lake Loop Road west. At the lake turn left onto Forest Service Road #28. Continue on Forest Road #28 to the intersection with the 060 spur road. Take the 060 spur right and look for the trailhead parking immediately.
Hiked on 2015-01-12
