Copper Creek and Shady Lane

Car Bridge at Staircase that allows access to this trail



With the causeway breached the only way to reach the Copper Creek trail is to park at Staircase and start out on the Shady Lane Trail. The Shady Lane trail is a segment of the Dry Creek trail that has not been logged because it is in the National Park. The difference between the two trails is remarkable.

There is a huge washout on the road near the Copper Creek trail head. I think they were planning on closing this road anyway so I doubt it will get repaired. This is a shame because there is a lot of good blueberry picking up this road and I have a geocache up there too.

I have managed to hurt my ankle on some debris on the trail. This is an injury that I get a lot and it is actually an aggravation of a very old injury and subsequent surgery. This time it seems worse that usual but normally the pain goes away quickly. Tonight my ankle is slightly swollen. I lose my medical insurance at the end of this month but I don't think I'll need it for my ankle. I took my own stitches out of my finger this morning, I'm so glad I did not bother going to a doctor and paying for that. It took all of 10 seconds. Two weeks ago I cut my middle finger on a can lid and managed to cut it deep enough to nick a tendon! Now that the stitches are out I can see that I'm going to have a big ugly scar on my finger.

I had a nice hike, my mind was a bit scattered but just being in the woods and not having any human contact for hours on end helped a lot. I always pick trails that I think will be nearly deserted. That is why I chose Mount Rose over Mount Ellinor all the time. I have never been hiking in the Cascades, they are not as close to home and I hear they are very crowded.

I'm in slightly better shape then I thought, I'm not sore, but I might be sore tomorrow. I took this hike really slow and easy to ease my body back into hiking. If my ankle is ok I might attempt Mount Rose in a couple of weeks.

The Copper Creek trail is nice and shady and cool on a hot day, I think I made a good choice. When I woke up this morning I did not want to hike. Normally that means I have a cold but I know that I am not physically ill so I forced myself to go anyway. I was going to hike to big log camp on the North Fork Skok trail but I changed my mind and that change of mind gave me more motivation to hike. I'm glad I did not go on the Skok trail, I saw a lot of cars at the trail head so I don't think I would have gotten the solitude there.

The drive to the trail head was a bit of an ordeal for me, I thought I was being followed and pulled over a couple of times, but the drive home was better so hiking did me some good! I had to go back to May 3 to find out how many miles to add to my shoes. The disaster in my life (fueled by the CDIU) that caused all my symptoms to go into overdrive happened on May 21st. Before that I was happy and had a fragile sort of stability.

Beauty:

Difficulty:



51 miles on my shoes now
GPS says I went 8 miles with 2,500 feet elevation gain
I this hike is actually about 6.5 or 7 miles
Gasoline burned: $7.75 or 1.85 gallons at $4.19 per gallon
Money saved by not driving the Jeep $5.86










I wonder if this gaaging station still works?



Culvert washed out by a creek that I have never seen running. This is right at the Copper Creek Trailhead




I think these two trees along the shady lane nature trail fell this winter.



View of Skokomish river



A polypore



Trial is getting overgrown with tree seedlings



Trailhead Register, I thought I would be the first after the storm but I am off my game several others beat me to it.