Lower South Fork Skokomish River — Sunday, Mar. 2, 2025

Yet another beautiful, quiet, and gloomy day out on the Lower Skosh, my favorite go-to hike when I a) don't want to drive too far from Olympia b) want to bring my dog and c) don't want to deal with questionable snow and/or roads. Saw one car parked at the lower TH on my way up to Lebar (why put yourself through those initial switchbacks?) and hiked out to Camp Comfort and back, crossing paths with only one other party and saw another from afar. Spring is definitely in full swing in the South Sound, but it's still a few weeks away in the Nat'l Forest - no trillium or other wildflowers as of yet, but the bugs are definitely starting to stir. There was a bit of snow on the trail after the first camp, but it was mostly gone on my return and is unlikely to remain for much longer, so I'm clicking the snow-free checkbox. The big blowdown at around 3 miles out now has a companion of near-equal size (see pic), but both are easy to go around and all of the other messes I encountered back in November have been nicely tidied up. The sun valiantly tried to break through over the course of the morning, though it was all for naught and the clouds won the day with zero complaints from me or the dog -- we're always happy for a long, grey walk in the woods.
One last thing of note: the long-standing log bridge out to the spit/island at the first camp has accumulated a bit of extra flotsam (see pic). It's always been a bit sketchy/slippery on a good day, but it was absolutely a hard pass for me today, especially with a dog in tow. I'm sure an alt-route is possible, just be forewarned if that's your destination.