Spent 3 days/ 2 nights at Camp Pleasant, which is 7 miles from the Staircase Rapids ranger station. Arrived Friday around 12:30pm to full parking lots so we parked along the road. Temps were in the 80's which made for hot hiking. The trail is in the shade for 99% of the time to Camp Pleasant. This section has rolling ups and downs, nothing very steep. There is not much water along the trail until you reach Madeline Creek, which is a good place for a break and to filter water. Shortly before arriving at Camp Pleasant there is a large section of downed trees blocking the trail. There are a few pink ribbons marking a way through this area, but they are hard to see and not well placed. We chose a route that seemed "easiest" but still involved climbing over some large logs. Camp Pleasant had relatively few bugs and has many nice camp spots on both sides of the creek. Easy access to the creek for filtering water as well. The privy was in okay shape, lots of cobwebs and flies, smelly, but clean.
Day 2 we hiked up to First Divide with a nice cloud cover and on and off sprinkles. Just past Camp Pleasant there was another section of downed trees across the trail, but there was a much more obvious route over them which was not too difficult. The rest of the trail to Nine Stream was straight forward with no obstacles. We chose to put on sandals and ford Nine Stream. It was cold and about knee deep in the deepest section (I am 5'2). One group we saw rock hopped, but many of the large rocks are slippery and one guy started to slip and still ended up with a submerged boot. I think it's easiest to just ford it. From Nine Stream on the trail begins to climb. You cross one more creek before entering the forest and then climb some steep switchbacks. There are 2 sections in these switchbacks where trees have fallen and blocked or taken out the trail. We found it easiest to take off our packs and climb under the trees. Not too difficult, but annoying nonetheless. The trail was in good shape up to first divide, just lots of up. Huckleberries and salmon berries were abundant in sections and we made sure to make a good amount of noise to avoid startling any bears. We did not see any but saw bear scat and smelled them in areas. We ended this day logging 12.5 miles and over 2500ft of gain.
Day 3 we packed up and hiked out. Cloud cover again kept temps cooler.
Take aways: plenty of places to filter water from Madeline Creek on; nice sites at Camp Pleasant and Nine Stream; no bear wires at Camp Pleasant so plan to bring a bear vault, not sure if they were in working order at Nine Stream; trail up to First Divide was steep and long with minimal views, people said Home Sweet Home is where it's at but that's another 500ft of gain in 1 mile which we did not have the energy for; be prepared for numerous downed trees.
Comments
Dick Burkhart on North Fork Skokomish River
A few days ago I found no large section of downed trees blocking the trail before Camp Pleasant, nor any sign of recent trail work there. Instead I found a section of a few hundred feet where the trail crossed and re-crossed a minor stream bed that is a diversion from the main river. All these crossings were easy. At the north end there are some puzzling red ribbons (seen when hiking back south) for an awkward uphill route. I explored this but found it worse than the established trail through the diversion stream section.
Posted by:
Dick Burkhart on Aug 09, 2021 08:04 PM
treensmarie on North Fork Skokomish River
My hiking partner and I assumed the same thing and crossed the creek on our way in. Once across we realized these downed tress had fallen across the trail and were indeed blocking the trail, hence the ribbons. On our way out we chose to follow the ribbons which are the preferred route, rather than crossing the creek.
Posted by:
treensmarie on Aug 09, 2021 08:51 PM