This trail report is primarily to report some issues to WTA crews for future work party planning, but if you haven't hiked Skookum, you definitely should.
It's a beautiful hike anytime of year, but especially good in late fall to early spring when the higher elevations are covered in snow. You get many views of the White River and ridges on the east side of the river, plus there are plenty of large old growth Douglas Firs and Western Red Cedars along the trail. In spite of the rest of my report which includes specifics on some wet spots, I did this hike on a rainy day at the end of a rainy week and the trail was not excessively muddy. I did not hike the casual trail up to the falls viewpoint as that trail is not in great shape and has many blown down trees to contend with, but just north of the falls trail you get a pretty decent view of the falls from the main trail.
For WTA/Forest Service: I started the hike at the north trailhead (off FS7300). The first .5 miles of the trail would benefit from additional drains and tread work as I encountered some puddling on this part of the trail. The new bridge and puncheon+turnpike were doing their jobs, no wet feet around these structures. To my surprise the older turnpike south of the new structures was holding up OK and this section of the trail was pretty dry.
As mentioned, the casual trail to the falls viewpoint was covered in blow downs. Even if that had not been the case, I'm not sure I would have hiked it as the boot path was very slick. Hopefully this trail can be repaired/re-routed at some point. There are also some medium and larger blowdowns on the main trail near the intersection of the falls trail. All are passable, but it would be good to get them cleared.
Miles 2 - 4 of the trail have some wet spots and could use some tread work, possibly some structures, and one of the bridges has been damaged by a large rock (see picture).
At mile 4 there is a sketchy part of the trail where it crosses a steep section of loose dirt and rock. While a trail log or small crib wall is probably the best fix, the bench could be extended by digging into the backslope, a fix that would take one person 1-2 hours to implement. The rain picked up and I turned around just past the 4 mile point.
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