Great jaunt!
Here's 9 min of video clips from the hike:
http://youtu.be/_a2-HtOfcCs

No other hikers on this trail - did see quite a few heading up to Marymere Falls and the parking lot was fairly full of tourists when I got back.

Trail is in great shape, except the third bridge seems to be getting dangerous as it tilts to the side. The bridge is high enough to cause a nasty fall and the single rail is very wobbly, so BE CAREFUL!

Lots of white flower clusters with slipky petals I could not find in the books. Also trillium and salmonberry blooms are out. Saw a Dipper nest! The Dipper kept chirping at me so I politely moved on. Nice views from the upper section, after the steep swicthbacks but before the final trail junction. End of trail is a nice set of cascades through a log jam.

What a lovely time of year to do these vibrant, green, water-everywhere trails! I kidded that the uber-greens around us made up for my forgetting to wear green on St. Patty’s day. Also, I pinched my husband (who WAS wearing green), which he thought was odd until I reminded him Washington is a community property state (somehow this made sense to him). More pics of these trails that start from Storm King Ranger Station at Lake Crescent are at: http://www.flickr.com/[…]/.

The trail tunnels under 101 then remains super-wide and, in summer, crowded until the fork to the Barnes Creek Trail. We saw 6 people to this point (in addition to the 6 we saw on Storm King, this made an even dozen). Marymere was their destination, so we left them behind and continued along beautiful Barnes Creek. It is true Olympics all the way. Maple-lined, moss soaked, green silk with white lace flowing next to us with the sweet accompaniment of a thrush. There are some giants on this trail, too – fir, cedar, and hemlock. The first mile or so after the junction is muddy enough to make any pair of boots happy. My husband had a wonderful time demonstrating trekking pole parkour by launching himself over the mud pits, eschewing the social “workarounds” other hikers have been making (it’s a TRAIL, folks; get your boots a little muddy!!!).

The trail rolls up and down, mesmerizing you with the infinite green hues of moss, tree, and river. This trail is well maintained. You’ll come to a junction (kind of easy to miss) where you can go straight or switchback down to the right towards the creek. When we were there, a few sticks were across the straight way, letting us know to head down. This is where they re-routed the trail due to a washout farther on. Head down to the creek. There is an incredible single-stringer log bridge over Barnes Creek (I was kind of disappointed as Romano’s book made me think a ford was required). But this bridge is really cool. It appears from the intact root boll that this log conveniently fell over the creek here. Whatever crew worked on it did an amazing job adding a supplemental log to get there, railings to both, and flattening and scoring the logs for easy crossing. They’re still slick enough that my husband slipped off on the way back (fortunately before the water!), so use the handrail.

Once over Barnes Creek, the trail climbs again, rolling along always within sight of this truly lovely creek. Another log bridge with railing takes you over a tributary, then you come to a massive washout through which a trail is carved. After dropping back down to Barnes Creek, we sat awhile and enjoyed the solitude until we got cold, then headed back, catching Marymere Falls on the way. The falls trails are, as always, in amazing shape. It started snowing pretty hard just before we arrived at the falls – at about 35 degrees my husband proclaimed it “hypothermia weather”, so pauses to enjoy the falls were brief. We encountered no one from the lone hiker we saw on Barnes Creek until returning to Storm King Ranger Station. This is an absolutely enchanting winter hike.

This is a great hike for quiet and solitude without a ton of elevation gain-- ideal in this year of lingering snows in the high country. After hopping off the #14 Forks bus Friday night at Lake Crescent Lodge it's a bare 3 1/2 miles to Dismal Draw camp, much prettier than its name suggests. The next morning is a smooth and easy stroll along the unmaintained but easily negotiable six miles to Lookout Dome atop the divide between Barnes Creek and Hughes Creek, a tributary of the Elwha. A great leg stretcher, no bugs, no snow, no traffic, just wilderness.