Yesterday Eagle flew us south on the delightfully twisty, curvy US 101 between the mountains and the Hood Canal
then right on WA19 to where the paved road ended and the gravel road began, a few miles before the end of Lake Cushman.
Today we drove the truck the same route, but didn't turn around at the gravel road. We ate dust for a couple of miles
(the lower 6-8 feet of all the rocks, bushes and trees were coated in dust)
before reaching pavement at the Staircase Ranger Station where we entered Olympic National Park at its southeast corner Mount Skokomish Wilderness area.
The Staircase hike along the North Fork Skokomish River is one of the most popular trails in the area, especially the initial 2-mile loop trail. The path is quite nice in some places,
quite rocky and requiring steps in others.
The trail goes on for miles, eventually linking up with several other trails. We opted for the two mile loop for our Sunday stroll. Here we found a montane forest--a relatively moist cool upland slope below the timberline and dominated by large coniferous trees--perfect for ferns, mosses
and tall red cedars
This western red cedar
had a diameter of 14 feet.
We strolled along (compared to most people) enjoying awesome giant trees on one side and sparkling clear water rapids on the other.
Every once in a while a break in the tree canopy treated us to a view of a mountain top.
Only one thing marred our enjoyment of our beautiful surroundings. I was taking a picture of an unusual tree stump when I caught a glimpse of that Creepy Guy! We thought we'd left him in the desert in Big Bend National Park in Texas, but there he was!
Fortunately, we didn't see him again after we crossed the river and continued down the trail on the other side.
We sat on a nice log off the trail enjoying our lunch while we watched the river rippling through tree branches then continued on our way.
We caught one last good look at the "staircase"
before the path wandered away from the river and back to the parking lot.
Once more through the dust, past Sunday swimmers
and boaters on Lake Cushman,
accessed US 101 and curved our way home.
4 miles in 3 hours--a nice little hike.
Louise and Duane
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