Big Creek Falls (Taylor River)

It seems impossible: Finding quiet solitude on a backcountry trail leading through ancient cathedral forests and past magnificent waterfalls less than a hour from Seattle. Yet the Taylor River Trail offers just that. While nearby Mount Si bristles with sweating hikers and out-of-control hounds, and the Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trail hosts hordes of outdoor enthusiasts, the Taylor River Trail—an old road that’s been reclaimed by the forest—goes largely unnoticed and unused. It’s a dog-hiker’s paradise because it lets human and canine walk side by side much of the way up a broad trail through lush old forest.