In my home stretch of lowland hikes before the snow melts! Beaver Lake was first on my list, and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It's pretty much a straight path forward, but there are many side trails out to Sauk River on your right. The second such path leads to a USGS monitoring station, but if you drop down the rock steps, you'll reach a nice little beach along the peridot water. I couldn't find a trail at the end of the beach, so I retraced my steps.
There's tons of skunk cabbage growing along the swampy sides, and I think they're quite beautiful in the sunlight. Yes, the slide/blowdown is still there, but it's easily navigable if you go down by the beach which you'll want to anyway to see pretty Mt. Pugh which is so stark in the distance. This was my favorite part of the hike. You climb the embankment (follow the footsteps) back up to the trail where you'll soon reach Beaver Lake (more like a pond). I didn't see any beavers unfortunately, but I did see their wonderful dams. Maybe the beavers gnawned down that bridge so we couldn't cross and disturb their little beaver city!
I headed over to White Chuck Bench, but hadn't read the directions so clearly, and followed the brown sign on the left of Mountain Loop Highway that said "White Chuck Bench TH 6 miles," to get to the upper trailhead instead of going towards the lower trailhead via the White Chuck Boat Launch. However, after reading trip reports for that hike, it appears that these are 2 ends of the same trail and that the middle is really overgrown and full of blowdowns so they no longer realistically connect.
I just made it to the trailhead with my Forester although there was a bit of snow and some potholes (esp at the beginning of Road 23). The first part is very easygoing, well-maintained, and meanders around the serene forest. Once you start heading down, the trail rounds a bend where you'll cross a bridge over falls, then see a view of Mt. Pugh sandwiched between two other mountains. This was the nicest part of this trail IMO, and as I sauntered along thinking I'd eventually reach White Chuck River, little did I know I never would. This trail is somewhat misleading because at some points it feels like it's winding its way down to the river. In fact, you'll run into more and more questionable blowdowns and hopefully finally give up like I did. I went about 3 miles in until I started getting a weird feeling and then sulkily turned around because I was too tired to do any more "exploring." This hike has the potential for some nice side trails that lead to the river, but so far there aren't any that I could find.
All in all, still a wonderful day of hiking although I reminded myself to prepare a little better next time. You can actually get good views of White Chuck River and Mountain from Road 23, and I paused to take photos at one point. Spring is just around the corner, so enjoy those winter hikes to the max!
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