I have often posted images of the trail up the North Fork Skokomish … or showed images of the area. I was going through photos and found this nice pair of photos about 5 miles up the trail, where it crosses a small creek. A National Park crew was installing a new bridge. With hand rails on BOTH sides! Quite nice.
This is a shot from a viewpoint that overlooks Lake Cushman and has looks up the valley (which runs around to the right) of the North Fork Skokomish River. One of my favorite hiking locations. I was on my way back from a hike up Mt Rose, which is the hillside on the right of the image. It’s a steep trail and a good workout. I didn’t get anywhere near the top, since it was New Year’s Eve Day and therefore not many hours of daylight … and I got a late start.
Just getting tired of photos of cool, damp weather. I need to get out into the mountains to soothe my soul. This is one of my favorite hikes … the North Fork Skokomish trail. It was the route that the first (white) explorers followed crossing the southern Olympics in the late 19th century. I enjoy it for the lush greenery … and the fact that you can hike for miles without having to climb a ridge.
This was a late fall hike to the summit of Mt Ellinor and the view northeast to some of the Skokomish Range (the southeast corner of the Olympic Mountains … and outside of Olympic National Park). It was a light snow year … typically by mid-November the snow is deep enough to cut off access. While the weather here looks great, on the way back down (the opposite direction from the view here, and much easier traveling) the clouds moved in and it was socked in with thick fog. Good thing I knew where I was.
The photo above is taken from the Staircase Loop Bridge across the North Fork Skokomish in Olympic National Park. Below is taken from the Loop Trail about half way between the bridge and the trailhead at Staircase.
