Directions: Drive I-90 to exit-38. Turn right and follow the road and signs directing you toward the State Fire Training Center as it turns back under I-90 and, if open, pass through a yellow gate with a sign warning it will be closed after 4:00pm. Follow the road over a bridge spanning the South Fork Snoqualmie and at ½mi past the gate at a bend in the road find three large concrete blocks blocking Dirty Harry's road on the right hand side. There is no official parking, but there is plenty of room to park in a large grassy area on the opposite side of the road.
Trail Notes: This is another logging road hike. The road/trail is fairly rough though quite passable and like most road/trails covered you are surrounded by deciduous trees. The trail itself is steeper than most modern logging road probably owing to it genre. The story goes there was this guy Harry who logged the slopes around Snoqualmie pass with a vengeance and that there are remnants of this activity still strewn about. I can't take exception with this other than to say that many of the guide books emphasis the remnants more than they should in that you probably won't see many of them, but will probably see evidence corroborating the validity upon which the observations were based.
The trail climbs for about an hour or so along the road with nary a sight of remnant logging operations save the second growth trees. Views are not to be had during this time and you have to be entertained with the trail. At about an hour you reach a spur which is marked with a oil can (which is metal so I guess that is from the olden days), some rocks, and some random debris. Take the spur as it leads to Dirty Harry's Balcony in about 10 minutes. The trail to Dirty Harry's Balcony is relatively level giving up a little elevation in the process of getting to the overlook. It is a nice enough place to take lunch overlooking I-90 an give in a view across the valley of the Southern slopes.
We opted to continue upward in hopes of spying some of the more substantial logging remnants such as a truck which has been reported to have been rolled or otherwise found its way off the trail on the downwards slope. Alas we did not find said truck. Instead, not surprisingly we found more of the same trail/road eventually reaching a switch back covered by a large landslide some time ago. Beyond this we ventured up the trail about another 15 minutes before abandoning hope of locating more remnant of that Dirty Harry saga.
Overall I wasn't too impressed with this hike, but that seems fairly typical of my assessment of road/trails. They just never seem to dish out the goods in a way that makes it worthwhile. A better alternative to this hike would be any hike further East (closer to Snoqualmie pass) where you will get a better experience. Hopefully this will all change by the time I am an old man if these hills aren't again logged. Which it would seem is a process that isn't worth while as the trees in general seem to grow back slowly - giving credence to the assertion that whatever logging goes on here is really more akin to mining than anything else. Also worth note is that if you continue up the road past the Dirty Harry trailhead is a firefighting training center which is worth a look if you are interested in what one of these look like. It is a large concrete structure that when we were there was actually smoking!
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