5.5 miles with 1,700 feet total elevation gain
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| 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 |
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| On the road |
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| Packed up to hike out |
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| Camp |
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| Camp in the morning light |
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| Where did this horse go? |
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| 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..
