Skookum Flats — Thursday, Mar. 24, 2022

Decided to take advantage of the work put in by jimclass and his certified sawyer to clear this trail of blowdowns and get in some forest therapy.  Thanks again for all the work you guys put in on this trail! It looks great! 

I went about 3 miles south from the northern TH and there was only one tree across the main trail, about 18 inches in diameter, just under 2 miles south from the northern TH.  Photo below.  It's a bit too high for an easy step over, but the straddle and over maneuver worked well for me.

I marked this as snow free, which is not technically correct.  There are a few small patches of snow left on the trail near the northern TH, but these are very small (height, width and length), firmly packed, and would really only be an issue if you weren't paying attention and slipped on them.  No traction devices are needed.

Got to the northern TH around 9AM and was the first car in the lot.  Roads were all snow free along the driving surface (some snow on the sides of FR 73). There were also patches of snow in the parking lot, but nothing that would prevent any care from parking.  FR 73 is in decent condition. Some potholes, but generally not too bad.  Just watch immediately before and after the bridge (as usual) - a couple quite large potholes on both sides.

The privy is not being maintained as best as I can tell from the signage, but wasn't in too bad shape if that's the case.  No TP, so bring your own supplies. And please pack everything out. As of today there wasn't too much garbage left in the building (there's no garbage can) - would be great if that stayed the case.

The trail itself was exactly what I was needing today.  Overall in very good condition.  In addition to the aforementioned patches of snow there were a few muddy spots, but nothing too extreme.  At the worst spot, there were a couple logs that could be used to avoid the mud while staying on trail/ hard surfaces.

In addition to the falls, there are a couple nice viewpoints down to the White River, though watch your step - some of those banks are getting seriously undercut.

There's an unnamed seasonal falls about 0.2 miles before the sign for the Skookum Falls spur trail, while only a small amount of water is coming down at the moment it was still a nice treat.

I took the spur trail up to the base of Skookum Falls; had forgotten how steep that was.  Slow and steady is the name of the game.  Unless you're a trail runner that's more goat the human and can effortlessly bound your way down ignoring the effects of gravity, as I saw today.  Me, I would break an ankle if I tried that. There was another large downed tree that you needed to go under on the way up the spur trail, though that one has been there for a while.

Went a little farther down the trail as I wasn't quite done with the forest, then made my way back north.  I finally remembered to put my pruning shears in my pack again, so on the way out I trimmed back a bit of the worst 'catch in you your face if you're not paying attention' trail encroachers.

Only saw three other people on the trail (including the aforementioned mountain goat trail runner).  There was a gray/ black plastic water bottle in some brush along the trail near the falls; as I wasn't sure which trailhead the owner might have used, I just put it in a more easily seen location next to the trail. 

Best wishes for the upcoming weekend!