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| 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.
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| Why? |
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| Fading light near the upper crossing |
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| Unique old blaze at Sundown Pass |
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| The salamander swamp dried up |
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| Same sign in 2008 |
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| No TLC for this area anymore |
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| Sphagnum squarossum |
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| Start of the Skokomish river dried up |
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| Sundown Lake |
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| Sundown lake |
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| Sundown lake August 2008 with snow |
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| Savage dog at the end of my hike |
On the way back to my car I checked out another little lake
that I could see on my GPS. This little
lake was wonderful. The lake had a
gravel shore rather than a yucky mucky shore, so I went it. The temperature of the water was just right;
I was able to walk right into the lake.
I stood in lake water up to my neck while Patches swam in circles around
me. It was so much fun to swim with my
pup.
At one point Patches or I startled a snake into the lake and
later when I was swimming I saw that the snake had gone clear out to the middle
of the lake. I hope the snake made it
out okay. It was a little unnerving to
have a snake swimming with me.
