It was a nice and clear trail. The ferns were great! Little to no bug activity. We did not see anyone else on the trail.

Camping At Dosewallips we decided to revisit the Steam Donkey Loop trail. It’s 3.5 miles easy and takes only a couple hours. 
The trail gently winds up hill for the first half of the trail then gently down for the second half. Lots of large maples and cedars to take in along the way.

Today we found ripe and tasty huckleberries as well as native blackberries to eat. Interestingly we heard a lot of birds, more so than most other hikes. They included raven, flicker, pileated woodpecker, owl, terns and others  The trail is markedly empty of other hikers especially since it’s so close the campground.  

Got a late start to hiking this trail with our older doggo on a Saturday, so we were somewhat surprised to see only 4 other hikers the entire time — a little unexpected solitude that we didn’t realize we needed, actually. 

Although it rained early morning that day, the afternoon heat had little impact on the humid understory, allowing some nice photos of dew drops that sparkled everywhere sunbeams found their way through the vine maple and fir canopy.

Lots of shroomies popping up through the forest floor and in ancient logs, and the aroma of twin berry blossoms followed us everywhere. Had no idea how potent their perfume was!

When we walked past the Ranger Station in the campground at the end of our hike, the (awesome) park rangers there gave our dog her official “Bark Ranger” bandana, which was super nice of them.

Overall, a lovely family-friendly and pooch-friendly warm-up hike to the hiking season, allowing for a short session of “forest bathing” before the long drive back home.

Made a quick trip to Murhut Falls after this hike, which we recommend doing in conjunction with this hike for a full afternoon of hiking. Stopped in Hoodsport on the way home for some really decent Mexican food on the water at El Puerto de Angeles (super professional staff, great views, and great chow).

I parked across the highway at the day-use lot and walked up the fire road until I found the trail. Once I passed the Izett Grade Trail crossing I started seeing bridges, streams, and waterfalls. The trail dead ends at the fire road, but then you can go down the road 50 yards and take the Maple Valley trail back to the campground. I suspect that it would be easy to lose the trail at night so watch the time. There were 5 blow-down trees over the trails. I saw one family with small kids near the campground entrance and the toddler was screaming and didn’t want to go on. To be fair, this is not really a trail for tiny kids. The trail was clear but the understory was almost grown over the path, and everything was wet, so I was glad to be wearing rain gear.

We were planning on taking the Maple Valley Loop to the Steam Donkey Loop and skipping the Rhody Cutoff and cut through the campground, but right before the Fire Road my son was running out of steam so we took that road to shorten our hike and ended at about 2.7 miles. 

We started our hike at about 10:20 am. We parked at one of the bathrooms on the campground (don't forget your Discover Pass!). I want to compliment the very nice bathrooms here. It's a large building with about 10 spacious single family-style bathrooms, I noticed one or two with a sign indicating they also had a shower. The bathrooms were very clean, well stocked with toilet paper, plumbed and electricity, and HOT water coming from the sink which was great on a cool rainy day.

Anyway we started our hike in the rain and my son was a little hesitant since he has discovered that he doesn't like his hands getting wet from the rain when we hike. He managed to keep his hands in his pockets most of the time so that helped.

My son was really hoping to see wildlife today so we spent our time inspecting creeks and puddles and staring at the ground. The whole hike is so green from ferns and moss and a plethora of other plants. 

There was no shortage of snails ('Seek by iNaturalist' identified a Robust Lancetooth, Pacific Sidebands and an Oregon Forestsnail) and slugs (Banana and Chocolate Arion) on this hike. The Phantom Creek bridge was a great scenic spot to stop and check out the creek.

We continued on and also saw a Yellow Spotted Millepede. At one point in the hike I thought I was heading voices back from where we came until I realized I was actually hearing an owl! It's so very hard to get the kids to stand on silence for even just a moment to listen, but we did manage to hear a few more hoots!

There were about 3 logs crossing the trail that I photographed and made note of on my map. They were 18-24 inches in diameter- small enough that I could step over no problem but my 5 year old needed to hold my hand and my 2 year old needed to be lifted over.

As we got closer to the Fire Road my son expressed that he was done with being outside for the day. He complained his hands were cold from the rain. It was intermittent sprinkles throughout the hike. I looked at the map and saw we could cut the hike shorter by walking the Fire Road, so we did that, and it was a good thing we did....

In the spirit of continuing to look for critters my kids were looking in every puddle we passed. My daughter once got VERY excited started squealing and my son and I turned and looked to see a Rough Skinned Newt crawling out of a puddle! That was such an exciting discovery! Way to go, little one!

Seeing the newt renewed my son's energy and we continued to find snails and slugs as we continued. We finally made it back to the campground and followed the road past the ranger station and back to the bathroom where we parked.

I always try to report on the below:

Stinging Nettle: while not throughout the entire hike, there were several sections with Nettle near the edges of the trail. There were areas where I had to hold my two-year-old's hand because I wasn't confident she wouldn't brush against it or reach out and grab it.

Berries: the Salmonberry are flowering and we even saw tiny tiny green unripe berries starting to form! Not ready yet but getting there!

I'm doing the 52 Hike Challenge with my kids this year and this is hike #19 for us!

Links:

• Google Photo Album
• Garmin Stats
• Gaia Map of Logs Over Trail