Friday, February 22, 2008

Walker Mountain and Secret Falls







Rating (out of five possible mushrooms)
Hike:

Difficulty:

With so much snow in the mountains I decided Mount Walker would be a good choice. The Mount Walker trail head is at 101 so I knew I would not have to drive in the snow to reach it.

I’m still ill and was not really excited about hiking but did not want to go three weeks in a row without a hike. The hike up was hard because I was dizzy and feverish. When I got to the top I settled down at the viewpoint bench to boil water and eat my lunch. Three camp robber birds came to beg and it was starting to feel like a magical moment when a big slobbery oaf of a dog came running up. The dog scared the birds away, almost knocked over my cook pot and then ate the food I put out for the birds. The moment was ruined. Eventually the dog owner arrived but she did not stay long. After she left her dumb dog came back and scared the birds away again. I think it ran back up the trail just to look for more food. I gave the dog a gentle kick and that caused it to go away for good. I like dogs but my peaceful moment on the mountain top was totally destroyed by this off leash dog.

On the way home I stopped by a secret waterfall. I had not seen this waterfall before and I was impressed! The locals don’t want to share their waterfall with tourists so I’m not going to name it here.

There is a lot of snow in the Skokomish Valley this week and snowshoes are still needed on the lower trail. A local geocacher got his truck stuck at the turn off to the Upper trail head and had to had to spend the night there and then hike out for help. He has 32” swampers but he still got stuck.


4 miles RT with 2,000 feet elevation gain
8 miles on my new shoes









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