Sunday, June 15, 2014

Dry Creek South to Ridge Camp Backpack

5.5 miles with 1,700 feet total elevation gain

Crossing Le bar creek

Dry Creek is my own private trail.  I have a private camp site up on the
 ridge.  Dry Creek trail used to go from Staircase on the North Fork
 Skokomish to Camp Comfort on the South Fork Skokomish.
The Shady lane nature trail is a severed portion of the Dry Creek trail. 

Most of the trail has been lost to logging and logging roads.  Starting
 from Stair case one must run a gauntlet of summer homes with
constant destructive to the forest activity and no trespassing signs.
 

Then one must hike 4 miles up an old logging road to a creek.  Then
 one must try to ford the creek, and it's not always easy.  Then one
 must walk another 1/2 mile to reach the old growth.  The glorious
 wonderful old growth. 

Coming in from the South one must drive past the South Fork
 Skokomish trail and past Lebar horse camp, then if the gate is open
 one must travel about 3 miles long the river on the road, then one
 must take a sharp right to head up the hill at an unmarked road.
 Then the water bars from hell start.  Evidence of a cracked oil pan can
 be seen at the first water bar.  One must drive up 5 miles while
 negotiating the biggest water bars in the world.  Water bars that
bottom out my Jeep.  Then if one is very lucky and make all the right
turns they arrive at the trail head. 

Next one must walk 1.5 miles up a hot, dusty and ugly churned up logging road.  Why did they route the trail up the road here? There is evidence that the trail once went up Le Bar Creek.  Why not route it up Le bar creek?  While hiking up the logging road one will encounter Le Bar Creek and most of the time one will have to cross barefoot, the algae is too steep for any human to be able to cross in boots. 

finally if one's vehicle has not over heated and they have not fallen
 in the creek one reaches the actual trail and one immediately enters old
growth, glorious mostly untouched old growth.  nourishment for the
 soul! 

Not many people are willing to go through all of that.. the trail from the South Typically sees about a dozen people sign the register all year long and about 1/4 of them are hunters.Everyone else is content to start at staircase and turn around at the creek. 

For this trip I chose to go in from the South again since the gate is open and my Jeep running sort of okay.  I took my daughter with me and we camped at the ridge top campsite just 2.5 miles and 1,100 feet from the trail head. 
 
This is one of those places where I have had lunch so many times and every time tell myself someday I will be back to spend the night.  Now that my little daughter is old enough to hike and my spouse it not yet completely bedridden I am making these some days happen!

We camped in the circle


Ecstatic to be in a cloud

Mommy pulled a bag of marshmallows out





On the road


Packed up to hike out


Camp

Camp in the morning light

Where did this horse go?


View the second we arrived at home


When we got home I parallel parked across my drive way since it was full. There was a soccer player across the street changing his shirt. Laura said "we got home just in time to see a person changing his clothes". I looked at the guy who was undressing him self and I said really? But he just looked at me and continued to take off his soccer shorts and prepared to put on his jeans. Like they all do, he was hiding from the view of his soccer friends and his cultural group while changing in full view of my house and me and my daughter just 20 feet away. It's like we don't exist. So I surprised him by pulling my camera out of the back of my car and taking a picture of him. He jumped to get away from my camera and in doing so ran down the sidewalk behind his truck in his underwear with his jeans in his hands and in full view of his soccer buddies. All his buds started laughing hysterically and looking at me approvingly.. he came back around his truck but with his pants on and he looked at me laughed too. I bet that's the last time he changes his clothes in front of my house..

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