Cushman hill loop brown creek road destroyed

Glad to be somewhere less crowded than Ellinor on Memorial Day Weekend

Started hiking at about 11am, decided to do the loop clock-wise this time and started out on a bike.  Expected to be able to bike most of the way but got a very rude surprise.  FS 400 that runs next to Brown Creek has been obliterated, they call it decommissioning and it must make a ton of money for whoever does it but it ruins the road for even hiking.  I wish they would turn these old roads into trails instead of “decommissioning them.   This was the same thing they did to the road up Prospect peak and I had just done 13 miles of this type of “trail” tread on Wednesday.  It did not bother me too much but it ruined the beauty of the road hike.  I remember the wonderful serene feeling I got the last time I was on this road.

Another road ruined for hiking

The road before it was destoroyed for hiking, picture from 2010

I had to ditch my bike right at the start of FS-400 because you just can’t bike a decommissioned road.   Near the end of FS400 I cut up to a new road that they seemed to have built just for the sake of decommissioning the old road... How much sense does that make?  None, it’s all about money.  

From that road I was able to access the Green Diamond aka Simpson clear cut.  Green Diamond aka Simpson is a multi-national logging corporation as has destroyed almost the entire south flank the Olympics.  But now they are restricted to cutting on their own land, they have been kicked out of our national forest after basically being giving all those trees for free.  They built the roads too but they subtracted road building costs from what they paid for the timber and they were the only bidders so they were able to practically steal all the lumber.

There are some nice views in the Simpson clear cut but it’s also hot and dry in a clear cut and they used fertilizers and herbicides in the clear cuts so I carried water with me from Brown Creek rather than just fill up as I got like I normally do.  My friend made the section worse by stopping and scrolling on his phone in the middle of the road.

The view from the clear cut was not as nice as I remember.  It was a long day.  In all I hiked 10 miles and biked 2 miles.  I made several wrong turns and they added a mile to this trip. 

I doubt I will ever do this loop again now that the brown creek road has been destroyed.

12 miles with 1,500 feet elevation gain

Cushman Hill

No chance of ever getting a reflection shot when you bring a Springer Spaniel hiking with you


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Today I set out to explore Cushman Hill for the first time. This hill is on the shore opposite of Mount Rose. I don't think that many people explore this side of Lake Cushman. From the top of Mount Rose and Ellinor I can see a clearcut on Cushman Hill and I always suspected there would be a good view from this clearcut. So I decided to find that clear cut.


The brown clearcut forest I was aiming for is near the top of the picture

I did a bunch of map reading the night before and came up with a 9 mile loop that I could do utilizing different gated logging roads that would get me up to this clear cut. I could not have done this hike without my GPS and topo map. If my GPS had stopped working I would have needed to back track to find my way back to my Jeep.

As I suspected, the views were great! I also learned that Green Diamand aka Simpson employees like to have lunch in this clear cut. The two fellows I met at the high point seemed to be embarrassed by the high country logging that Simpson did in the past. Neither of them knew of of the road I planned to take out so I hoped that this road that was on my GPS map really existed.

But I found the road out right where my GPS said it was. The road out ran next to Brown Creek and this part of the hike was really nice too. The sound of the river and the ambience of the woods there made me feel really serene and happy.

The road was washed out in numerous places  and it seemed really remote but fresh litter on the trail told me that this road was not as remote as I thought it was.

I found a nice place next to the creek to brew my tea and have lunch before I hiked back out to my Jeep. On the way out I had some trouble with target shooters, they were shooting straight down the road!

10.5 miles
2,000 elevation gain

Later Note the road next to Brown Creek has been decommissioned and is now a hellish hike.  I'm glad I got to hike it once before they destroyed it.




Washout with newer plastic culvert



Another washout. This road must have been destroyed in the 2007 rain on snow event



Track Log -Redundant but I don't trust the map thing above to last forever



Mount Rose, Copper Mountain and Lake Cushman



Rose and copper (rose is the burned area, copper is the snowy peak behind it)


The old Brown Creek Road and mountains


Recently cut ferns show that this road is not so isolated


My peaceful lunch spot



Patches never saw a muddle puddle she did not like


Old growth stump, second growth stump, third growth seedling.


Massive old growth Douglas-fir stump. What has been done to this area is a crime.


A landslide near Brown Creek


High country logging under the Simpson 100 year sustained steal agreement


Mount Ellinor and Mount Wasington



The cutting line is the property line. They are not supposed to clear cut in the national forest anymore. But they are going to cut 17 acres of trees just to put them in the Skokomish river.


Clear cut and wasted wood



Herbicides applied by air


Simpson truck clear cut pano