Walks with Moss: Sundown Lake

Showing posts with label Sundown Lake. Show all posts

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Sundown Lake via Wynoochee Pass Backpack

Headwaters of the Skokomish River and ancient meeting place of the Quinalt, Dosewallips and Skokomish tribes

My overseas friend Abra, is living with me this summer and I wanted to show her some old growth forests while she is here and I wanted to see some new things too. We also wanted to avoid the covid crowds.

The Wynoochee Pass trail to McGravy Lakes seemed just the ticket. This little known stub of an old 15 mile long trail is often overlooked. The road the trail is a bit rough and it is closed for half of each year. I've never been on the Six Ridge or the Wynoochee Pass trail before. It was time to go!

Without doing enough research, I decided we would backpack to Sundown Lake in one day, then go up to McGravy Lakes for one or two nights and then go all the way back to the car on the last day.

The route was more up and down than I had realized in my rushed research and my fiancé is a beginning backpacker with a very healthy fear of heights. I have not been backpacking in over six months and this proved to be too ambitious of a plan for either of us.

After a two hour drive to the washed out road before the current trail head we started our hike at 11:20. The first half mile or so is on old road bed and then at a switchback in the road the trail starts. The Wynoochee pass trail used to start 15 miles downriver but has been destroyed by logging, road building and the dam.

Lunch at the car before the start of our hike. I grew this tomato and cuke. We lost the cuke on the trail and never saw it again.

The trail is lined with old growth and it is beautiful! We had a very nice but slow hike on this trail. There were a few downed old growth trees blocking our way and progress with my fiancé who is a new backpacker and is very afraid of falling was very, very slow. But she is keen and wanted to keep going in spite of a few moments of terror.

After a few hours became clear that we were not going to make it to Sundown Lake in one day, our start was too late and we were moving too slow.

The route to Sundown Lake is up and down, up 1,000 feet to Wynoochee pass, then down 1,000 feet to Graves Creek and then back up 1,000 feet to Sundown Lake. There is a way trail but I knew that Abra would not be up for it and my trail guide by Robert L Wood says the way trail is so rough that staying on the main path is actually easier.

I’m not sure why I thought we could do all that climbing in one day with an 11am start and 4 days worth of food on our backs, in the condition we were in.

Graves Creek seemed a better option for our first night, but my trail guide said the creek is dry this time of year. It had just rained though, so maybe there would be water down in that dark gorge?

Rough going on a trail in need of some TLC

World's tallest Mountain Hemlock tree near Wynoochee pass

I had camped at Graves Creek once before and I did not enjoy it much, it was too dark and creepy and I was a bit freaked out by the trip before we got to our campsite. I was with my reluctant 11 year old and the terrain was very rough and I was worried that we would have to turn back. That trip report is here: https://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2008/08/trip-over-olympic-mountains_16.html (link opens in a new window)

Just before we made it to the top of Wynoochee pass we were passed by Larry. Larry was headed for some off trail lakes up the six ridge trail. I told Larry about our plans to camp at Graves Creek and Larry encouraged us to camp in a meadow just below Wynoochee pass instead.

Before we ran into Larry we saw one other hiker, a day hike with a covid mask on headed back from his hike to Wynoochee pass. He warned us of a “headwall” on the way to the pass.

Eventually we made it to the headwall and we both got up it without too much trouble. I went up it with my pack and had Abra hand her pack up to me.

Wynoochee pass was lovely with a couple of nice little tarns at the top. We did not linger though since we were running short on time and were not sure where we would camp. We did not see any nice campsites at the pass.

On the other side of the pass we saw that Larry and gone to a lot of time and trouble to mark the route down to the meadow for us. Thank you Larry! We opted to not stay in the meadow though. The meadow looked damp and the route down to it seemed rough.

Onward we crawled down to Graves Creek and a campsite that I thought I remembered staying at before. I was off by a bit, I had stayed at Success Creek before.

Surprisingly, there were no established campsites at the bottom of the gorge where Wyshoochee Pass and Graves Creek trail meet and the sun was going to set in one hour. I hurriedly thrashed about in the brush looking for a flat spot to pitch the tarp.

Any flat spot would do. Abra labored to stay in my sight as I floundered up and down the river searching for camping. I checked out a meadow and my shoes got soaked, so the meadow was a no go. I was not happy and I became increasingly less happy as I looked for a flat spot of any kind to camp, it was getting late and we needed to camp. A few expletives flew out of my mouth. At least there was water down there so we would not die of thirst in the dank river bottom.

Finally I found a dreary but flat place just big enough for us to pitch the tarp. Next to our chosen tent site we found a nice open area on Graves Creek with great driftwood furniture to cook on. Our campsite was too small and dark to even cook in. But the open area next to the creek made this a nice camping spot after all.

Cooking area near Graves Creek

Dank camp spot that we found

old trail signs in need of repair at Graves Creek

In the night something kept running across the plastic sheets we had layed out under our tarp tent to keep the floor dry. We decided the creature must be a mouse and we named the creature “crinkle toes”. Eventually, I got up and tucked all the plastic neatly under our tent and we did not hear from crinkle toes again.

The creek made creepy noises all night long, but we got used to them and had very fitful and uncomfortable nights “sleep” in the dank gorge. I never sleep well next to creeks, they make too many random noises.

The next morning we got up, had a leisurely breakfast and started our hike up to Sundown Lake.

The hike up towards Sundown Lake was Lovely and the climbing went well. There were some downed logs and exposed spots that scared Abra, but we made okay time to the lake.

We had Sundown Lake all to ourselves for two nights. We saw a bear a few times and we picked lots of blueberries. We opted not to try for McGravy Lakes at all but really enjoyed our second unplanned night at Sundown.

On our second day at Sundown we made a side trip to Sundown Pass and the beautiful meadow below it. I want to camp there someday.

After two nights at Sundown we got up at about 7 am and had a quick breakfast and packed up for our trip back to the car. I had misplanned how much stove fuel we needed so I had to cook over a tiny campfire later in the trip. We started hiking out at 8:20am and made it back to the car at about 6pm. It was a very long day of hiking.

While driving back down to the dam on the dodgy road, we could hear gunshots and soon found a truck parked dead in the middle of the road with its occupants holding a long rifle with a site on top of it. They slowly packed up and left without even making eye contact with us. Welcome back to civilization… sigh...

We had a quick cup of coffee at the dam day use area and then drove home the long way through Montesano since Cougar-Smith Road was closed. I found the noise from crowds at the dam to be a bit disconcerting after so many days in the woods.

I’m ready to go backpacking again.

There were blueberries everywhere on our hike and we gorged ourselves on them every day.

According to Google Earth our trek including a side trip to Sundown Pass was 12.5 miles with 5,150 total elevation gain and loss the maximum grade was %45.5 percent and the average grade was %14.

Salmon berries and Chicken of the woods

Frog at Sundown Lake

Sundown Pass 4,125 feet was the high point of our hike

Tarn at Wynoochee pass

Bowfin 2 tarptent at Sundown Lake

Mushroom

View of the route up to Wynoochee pass from Sundown Pass area.

Old growth log blocking the trail, one of many

Big Cedar rootball

Lowering packs down with a rope to get back down this spot near Wynoochee pass

Our complete route in google

A small fire to cook at Graves Creek

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Upper South Skok to Sundown Lake

The pond that the Skokomish River originates from

There was not enough snow last year and all the snow is gone now. The rivers are drying up. I decided to go looking for the Rivulariella gemmipara liverwort before it’s too late. This aquatic liverwort needs water and it will die if the streams dry up. I’m the first person to ever find it in Washington State and I wanted to make a second find in a different place.

I always thought the headwaters of the Skokomish might be a good place to look for the Rivulariella gemmipara liverwort. With the days being so long I did not start my hike until about 10AM. My goal was the headwaters for the South Fork Skokomish. I’ve only been up to the headwaters once before and I remembered that they were pretty and they seemed like perfect Rivulariella gemmipara habitat.

All of the bridges on the Upper South Fork Skokomish River trail are gone now and the trail is getting brushy above the upper crossing. I made good time getting to the upper crossing and then to the salamander swamp. All the salamander eggs that I saw there a few weeks ago were flattened out turning green and exposed to air as the swamp has dried up. I added one bottle of river water to the swamp. I don’t know if trying to fill up the swamp would help or hurt the salamanders.

Just above the camp Riley meadows the sudden movement of a large animal in the woods frightened me. I think it was a lone elk but I kept smelling bears. Near camp Riley I found what looks to be the liverwort I was looking for. So I did not have to go all the way to the headwaters to look.

When I reached the headwaters I saw that the liverwort could not be growing there. The stream did not have enough of a current. Water was barely even flowing out of the pond that is the start of the mighty Skokomish River. I took a few pictures and then decided to check out Sundown pass.

On my way to Sundown pass I had a bit of my jerky and I decided that it tasted too good; it must have MSG in it. I looked at the label and was horrified to see MSG listed as an ingredient, not just as “natural flavor” but as an ingredient. I was almost sure to get a debilitating migraine from eating just half of it. I put the jerky away quickly downed almost a liter of water to help flush the MSG out of my system.

Once on Sundown pass I started thinking about Sundown Lake. My GPS said it was just ½ mile away, but I would have to lose 300 feet and regain it on the way out. Time was running a little bit short. I pondered for a while and then decided to go for it since I was so close and I had not seen the lake in 7 years. I have good memories at the lake too.

So I headed down the trail to the lake and worried and worried about having to regain that elevation and I was afraid that I was about to get a migraine but then I told myself to quit worrying. Then when I had gone half a mile I realized that I read my GPS wrong, the lake was actually 1 mile from the pass and would add two miles round trip to my hike. Oh well, I was committed now. I started to worry again.

It was good to see the lake, but I did not spend too much time there before I headed back up to Sundown Pass. Regaining the elevation was not that bad. At the top of the pass I did some quick calculations, how much light did I have left and how fast was I going to hike out? It looked like I had time to take an hour break at the headwaters, so I took a half hour break to be on the safe side.

I had my coffee at the little lake. A slight breeze kicked up and it was nice and cool in the shade, almost too cool. The breeze kept mosquitoes away. With everything drying out so fast, I don’t think it’s going to be a bad year for mosquitoes. I found a box in a tree that I think is for storing food.

At 5:30 I began my hike back down to my car. I had six miles to hike and 4 hours of daylight left. If I went 2 mph I should make it out before dark. I stopped to check the time Camp Riley and I saw that I was not going 2 mph, so maybe I would not make it out before dark.

Just before Camp Riley I scared a little flock of baby grouse. I can’t believe that tiny baby grouse can fly and like always, I mistook them for little adult birds. But then Mama Grouse came flying up and she was pissed!! She landed in a tree branch and hissed at me and then suddenly she came flying straight at me. I screamed “Whoa whoa! As she came at my face and then made a sharp turn about five feet in front of my face. Wow, mama grouse was really pissed. I wish I had gotten a picture of her, but it all happened so fast.

I made it back down to the upper crossing with one hour of day light left. Just before the upper crossing my ankle brace cracked and right before my brace cracked my good ankle got twisted. I was tired and clumsy so I knew I would have to take care hiking out if I did not want to twist my ankles. Racing the sun was not going to be an option, I had to be careful.

People were camped at the Upper Crossing; I think they were the same people I passed on the way in. They had a huge tarp with bug netting. Mosquitoes were not too bad on my hike but I did put on lots of Deet and there was a nice breeze in the areas that should have had lots of Mosquitoes.

Just before sunset I got out my headlamp and discovered that the batteries were almost dead, so I switched out the dead batteries with my spare batteries that I always carry. It’s good to get batteries sorted out before it gets too dark to see.

I made it out 15 minutes after sunset but well before dark. It stayed light long after sunset, I’m used to darkness falling 1 half hour after sunset, but maybe it takes longer for darkness to fall in the summer? I don’t think I’ve ever had to hike out in the dark in the summer time.

When I reached my car a savage dog rushed out to bite me so I yelled and positioned my little pack in front of me for defense. Not that my soft little pack would have done me much good. The dog owner was camped at the trail head in the back of a truck. She made no effort to call her dog off. She said the dog was friendly and was just going to sniff me.

I did not want to be sniffed by her dog and I did not like having my nature experience end this way. I also did not want a confrontation. The woman never called her dog off, not even so I could get my car turned around without hitting it. So I did the only reasonable thing, I spun my tires and left her and her dog in a cloud of dust.

I was not as tired as I thought I should be after doing a 15 mile hike with 3,200 feet elevation gain. My left knee and left little toe and left ankle hurt a little, but overall I felt pretty good for such a hard hike. The last time I hiked over ten miles was back in April and I don’t think I’ve done a 15 mile hike since last summer. I guess my body still remembers how to do it though.

15 miles with 3,200 feet total elevation gain