Madeline Creek is a tributary of the North Fork Skokomish river in the Olympic National Park. It’s pretty typical of small creeks in this area… clogged with logs and such. The shadows and hiding areas provided by the logs and such are great for providing hiding areas for small fish and other water critters.
Also notice the ferns growing on the face of the rock on the right stream bank. That’s also typical of the area.
I took this from a nice bridge only a couple years old … and only one tree had crashed into it, so far. (see below)
I recently attempted a backpack up the North Fork Skokomish in Olympic National Park. I say attempted because when I got where the road runs through the National Forest land near some private properties, there was a sign notifying folks that the road would be closed the following day for ‘dust control measures’ (meaning they were putting oil on the dirt). Since I was only going for an overnight, that meant I would be stuck in the park unable to go home until they were finished with their oiling job. When the ranger said that the previous year it was closed until 8PM, I decided to do a day hike instead. But it was nice being up there. I went to the Flapjack Lakes trail junction on the North Fork Skokomish trail, had a bite to eat and hiked back.
Back in the ’60’s, one of my first long hikes was an attempted crossing of the Cascades using some ‘high routes’. A friend and I were going with just the two of us and (looking back on it) overly optimistic plans. The weather didn’t cooperate: we ended up getting snowed on for a day or so after the third day or so. Perhaps we were lucky that we decided to bail. The weather remained stormy for several days (it was mid-August and a cold front blew in). We hiked to the nearest road, hitched a ride into the nearest bus line. It was still an adventure … and probably safer than if we had continued. It would have been a rugged go, and I’m not sure we would have been able to keep up our schedule … even if we found the right track … since we were following ‘high routes’ for a lot of the time, we weren’t using trails. So route finding would have slowed us down … probably more than we expected.
That’s my pack and ice ax just after we departed Lucerne (Washington) a SMALL town along Lake Chelan that is boat only access. This is my only photo of the trip. Taken with a Kodak Instamatic, I believe. One of my earliest remaining images.
The photo above is Happy Lake … a seldom visited spot in the Olympic National Park. The Happy Lake Ridge Trail is seldom hiked, but it a wonderful loop hike, ending at Olympic Hot Springs. It’s a longer hike now … since the road is washed out 5 miles or so before the Olympic Hot Springs trailhead. Happy Lake was quite buggy … but mid-July tends to be that way. Notice the left over snow and the Avalance Lilies.
The Griff Creek Trail leaves the Olympic Hot Springs Road just behind the Elwha Ranger Station in Olympic National Park. It climbs nearly 3000 feet ( ~ 950 m) in about 2.8 miles (4.5 km). So, it’s pretty steep. It has about 35 switchbacks and then it ends up on the middle of a steep section of hillside. It’s a nice hike with a view at the end of the Elwha Valley and environs.
