Fir Lake Backpack

South Side of Lake

I've seen this lake in the pouring rain and I've seen it covered with snow. I've never been able to hike around it due to snow and time constraints. This week we camped at the lake and I finally got to thoroughly explore it.

Hiked up to the lake with both kids. We had the lovely lake all to ourselves for two days. The lake is surrounded by old growth forest. Only 15% of the old growth on the Olympic Peninsula is left. This lake is special but it has no protection.

The highlight of the hike in was finding a huge can of unopened beer. The brand was Sapporo Ichiban or something like that. I am always on the look out for interesting cans that I can make alcohol stoves with. I was not expecting a full can of beer; I just wanted a closer look at a pretty can with a dragon on the side of it.

When I prodded the can with my trekking pole an animal bitten hole opened up and beer started squirting out. I was surprised to see beer squirting out. I grabbed the can with my hands and let the beer squirt out until I felt the can was clean and the animal bite hole was sterilized. The animal was not able to bit all the way through the can but the slight prodding with my trekking pole opened the hole.

I drank as much as I felt I could safely drink while backpacking and then I gave the rest to my dog. The hike in was really fun after that. I sang to the banana bunch tune la la la, la la la la; I found aaaaaa giant can of beer. The kids were pleased to see me in such a good mood. I think I'll start bringing beer on all my trips now. (Joking)




We brought our bad dog with us because we figured we would have the place to ourselves. The solitude was awesome. We were so happy to be there alone and not be sharing the lake with boy scouts. We knew we could not get this kind of solitude at Lena Lake. I chose this as my five year olds first backpacking trip (under her own power) because it is gentle like Lena Lake but it is not crowded and horrible like Lena Lake. Lena Lake was one of my oldest daughter’s first backpacking trips.

On Our second night my youngest got cold so I zipped her Sweetie Pie Sleeping Bag Expander into my sleeping bag. That made her warm but it made me cold. I had to sleep in my rain pants to stay warm. I had left my warmest sweater in the car at the trail head. Doh! Next time I'm going to bring a real sleeping bag for my youngest. I'm also thinking about getting a new sleeping bag for myself. It seems that the down in my bag had all drifted to one side.




Tall Grass



Mint Lake



Largest Spearmint Patch I have ever seen



Inside Tent


Cold Morning Mist




Cold Misty Morning





Blueberry eating on the way back







Our Camp



Our camp right before we left



Our campsite last winter



Our campsite last fall

We spent our time exploring the lake, eating blueberries and drinking spearmint tea. On the morning of the second day we added blueberries to our brown rice and then we had purple rice!




Then in the afternoon of the second day, god created quads. Luckily we were already thinking about leaving before the Church group arrived on quads. They drove up the closed roads, hauling their backpacks up on Quads. There were about 18 of them, 14 young teenagers and 4 adults. The arrival of the Church made the decision to leave easy. Wow, there went the neighborhood. Shouting, fishing and swimming, ripping the heads off off newts for fish bait and so on. They were much better behaved then the usual boy scouts at Lena Lake, but still they totally shattered our solitude and demystified this special area.

  I think they should have gone to Lena Lake. At Lena Lake they would have fit right in and disturbed no one. But I am glad that the Church used a chain saw to clear the trail for their quads, I am also glad that I did not hear the chainsaw running.



I wish the group had at least stayed away from our campsite while we were trying to eat our final meal. Why did they have to surround us? Why couldn't they murder newts on the far shore? My 5 year old was very upset when she saw they were murdering salamanders. I was upset to have so many people staring at us. I was also too upset to eat our last supper at the lake.


On the hike out I found my geocache by the side of the trail, it was not in its hiding spot. It was right on the trail and inside my cache I found a loaded shotgun shell, a live bullet and a cigarette. I removed all that crap and re-hid my cache. I don't think the church group was responsible for the problems with my geocache.

We removed a tent and an air mattress that had been abandoned at the lake but we left an abandoned raft behind. The quad riders said they might haul the raft out.

On the way home we saw that Lake West has been raped by Weyerhaeuser, so much for that once beautiful area. That was one of my favorite winter time hikes. Interestingly at the same time, Simpson Lumber Co. will take downtime at its operations in Shelton and Longview, Wash., the week of August 3 due to market conditions.

When we got home we had no place to park because someone had parked three cars right in front of our house. I gave up and parked on the sidewalk.

Now I need to go on another hike so I can get my peace of mind back.

6 miles RT (unless you drive there on a quad)
600 feet elevation gain (about)
140 shoe miles


Trees damaged by nearby Forest Service thinning operations






40 acres were "thinned" here. The (profits went to a timber company) the forest service used the money it made here to decommission 1/2 mile of a road. The 1/2 mile of road covered part of the Skokomish trail and now it has been converted back to trail.


Trail in the winter



Trail in the winter