Flapjack Lakes via North Fork Skokomish River, Gladys Divide — Friday, Jul. 26, 2024

We couldn’t get a permit for Flapjack Lakes so decided to get one for Spike Camp and day hike up to the lakes. Spike Camp ended up being super busy (we ran into ranger on Saturday who said 50 people had booked it which in my opinion is more than the capacity), so ended up going further to Big Log camp instead. The trail into Spike Camp/Big Log is super flat and easy.  The trail got a lot harder/steeper going up to flapjack lakes, but did pass a beautiful waterfall which made a nice lunch spot. I also thought the lakes were gorgeous and was wishing we were camping there. Saw a trout in the lake and lots of people fishing. We also hiked past the lakes up to Glady’s divide. There were lots of pretty wildflowers above the lake and up to the top of Glady’s which had a beautiful view, highly recommend if you have the time and energy.  We were going to check out Black and White Lake as well but was getting later in the day and we wanted to get back to camp and eat instead of doing another 1000 feet elevation so scrapped that idea. On the way out we hiked across a cool bridge and took the Staircase rapids trail out. We met another ranger who was pointing out an osprey nest. We couldn’t see the osprey but could hear him calling his mate and the ranger told us lots of cool osprey facts