These two shots were taken from the middle of the bridge across the Quinault River, just outside the Olympic National Park (in the Olympic National Forest). The road crosses to provide access to the North Shore Road and the North Fork Quinault trail from the South Shore Road. It isn’t too far from the upper end of Lake Quinault and the whole area is in the Quinault Rain Forest.
The South Fork Stillaguamish river valley was the location of most of my earliest camping/hiking adventures … starting in the late ’50’s – early ’60’s. Verlot and Turlo Campgrounds, Monte Cristo, Big Four and Lake 22. These views are from the trail to Lake 22 … one of the most heavily hiked trails in the Central Cascades. That is due to its relative proximity to Seattle, Bellevue and Everett areas.
We took a trip down to the North Fork Skokomish area this last weekend and parked just outside the Olympic National Park boundary … since the road was blocked off at that point. There is a nice forest service day use park there (but it’s small). It’s a mile and a half up a blacktop road to the Staircase Ranger Station and Campground … and we brought along our bikes. It was a nice ride (i.e. flat) and once we got to the campground, the road ended and we hiked up the river for a mile and a half, to the Staircase Rapid bridge. A beautiful winter day … lots of folks out enjoying the sun … but we were the only bikes. There were a lot more cars parked along the road than were day hiking. I’m sure there were several parties winter backpacking … much heartier than I.
The image below is just by the campground where we left the bikes.
I have visited the Staircase area of the Olympic National Park probably more than any other location in the park. My first visits were as a teenager, back in the mid-sixties. It has changed quite a bit in the last 60 years or so. Roads have been closed. Immense trees have fallen. New bridges (including more than one at one location, after nature removed one that had replaced an old wooden bridge). But in many ways the area hasn’t changed much. It’s still as beautiful as ever. The river is the North Fork Skokomish.
These two images show first snowfalls of the year in the North Fork Skokomish valley. The top image was taken from the bridge over the river just below the Staircase entrance to Olympic National Park. The lower image was taken from the bridge over the river to the ranger residential area and the Staircase Loop trail.
