We went on a 5 day backpacking trip to a few lakes beginning and ending at the Wynoochee Pass TH. On day 1 we drove to the TH and hiked to Sundown Lake. Day 2 we set up camp at McGravey Lakes and attempted to get to Lake Success and then back to our camp. Days 3 and 4 we did some off trail work, and on day 5 we hiked out.
The Wynoochee Pass trail was in good condition. Right at the beginning, the old road has been washed out, so there was a little bit of a sketchy work around, but it was definitely doable. From there to the junction with the Graves Creek trail, we had a few fallen trees that were easy to get over, and some that took a bit more effort (especially for those of us vertically challenged). There was one spot just after a river crossing that had a bit of a rock ledge to climb over, but there were enough footholds to get up without too much difficulty.
From the Graves Creek junction to the SF Skokomish junction, the trail was a bit more brushy, but there were plenty of salmonberries and a few huckleberries to make up for it. There were some larger downed trees that took a bit more work to get over.
Six Ridge trail was fairly easy to follow. There were a few meadows where we lost the trail briefly, but found it fairly quickly. A GPS with the trail on it was handy to have for those instances. There was one patch of snow across the trail that was a bit sketchy to cross before it had softened, but it had melted out by the time we hiked out. I lost count of the number downed trees, but none of them were impassable.
The Lake Success waytrail was a little tricky to find. At the Lake Success waytrail junction, it ended up being the trail that had some logs across it, not the sketchy steep slope that looks heavily trafficked. We followed the waytrail close to a third of the way to Lake Success. It was a little bit tricky to see at times, but between our GPS and finding cut branches, we were able to keep on the trail. However, it was super slow going so we didn't make it all the way to the lake.
Bugs were horrendous on this trip. We woke up to mosquitoes, had black flies, horse flies, and deer flies follow us around throughout the day, and switched back to mosquitoes when we made camp.
Wildflowers and mountain views were spectacular, although some of the mountain views got a bit hazy towards the end of our trip (likely from smoke). Huckleberries and blueberries are just starting, and salmonberries are still going strong.
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