Walks with Moss: North Fork Skokomish

I hit the trail at 9:30 am and made it out at 4:45. It’s been a long time since I went to visit my favorite tree at Big Log camp. I was glad to see that the tree is still standing. This tree is a western red cedar that is hollow in the center and has an opening that one can duck in to and have a seat. I have not been to Big Log camp since I got my dog, because dogs are not allowed in the National Park. I really thought I would miss my Patches but I did not miss her all that much. Poor Patches though, she wanted to go with me so badly. She knew I was going hiking when she saw me getting my gear together and she made several dives for the door as I was heading out. I’ll make it up to her and take her in a logging road hike later this week.

After Spike camp the trail was snow covered but the snow was old and crusty. The snow was easy to walk on, it was not slippery and it was not deep enough to steal much of my energy. There were some elk tracks in the snow. There was no snow at the base of my favorite tree. I spent one hour at the tree taking pictures, eating lunch and brewing my tea. I headed back for my Jeep at 1:30pm so I would have three hours of daylight to hike out in.

The bridge over Madeline creek was very scary, almost scary enough to make me turn around. I panicked on my first attempt to cross it and had to turn back before I fell off. It is narrow with just one handrail and it is partly covered with icy snow. I remember the bridges on this trail being much nicer than they are now. Huge clumps of Lobaria oregona were everywhere. I also saw lots of Spaerophurus lichens and a few Usnea longissima. I found several Lobaria that had black apothecia from being attacked by a fungus.

I was very manic at the start of my hike and for the second hike in a row I accidentally brought my thermos with me instead of leaving it in that Jeep. When I discovered I had my heavy thermos with me I hid it under a lichen (Lobaria oregona) and way pointed it in my GPS so I could pick it up on the way out. How many places in the world (other than the arctic) are lichens big enough to hide a thermos under?

The other bone headed thing I did today was forget to put batteries in my external flash. I opted to carry my useless flash with me rather than hide it with my thermos because it is not waterproof. I got back to my thermos right at sunset (4:30) and made it back to the trail head by 4:45 so I did not have to use my head lamp. Ah well, I did not miss my flash and it was nice having a hot tea to sip during the last ½ mile of my hike.

I only saw two other people on the trail and I hid from them. I expected to see a lot more people than that at Staircase on a Saturday! Maybe Ranger Davis has scared all the people away. I was careful to get in and out of my Jeep real quick so I would not have to see him and be accused of hunting for mushrooms in the snow.

When I got home the house was in pretty good shape. My kids are growing up and the days of my coming home to find my house totally trashed after a hike seem to be a thing of the past.

The air in Shelton shocked me with its foulness when I pulled off the freeway.