Flapjack Lakes via North Fork Skokomish River, Staircase Rapids — Sunday, Apr. 20, 2025

I followed boot-prints in the snow for the last half-mile to the lake, so I suppose it's theoretically doable, but let me assure you: you'll be bummed if you try. Patches of slippery, icy snow start around 3k and then, right after the B&W Lakes junction, it gets very deep and slushy. I put on snowshoes at that point and finished the ascent with little difficulty and explored a bit of the lakeside and spit, shaking my head sadly and tsk tsking at the various posthole tracks. Of course, lugging a pair of snowshoes 15 miles is not necessarily the best day-hike experience, but ymmv. I figured I'd give it a go, especially after getting snow-blocked on my last few hikes, and was glad to have made my destination.
Other stuff: quite a few logs to go over/under, but nothing serious. I'm not sure when they finally chopped that huge cedar by the boardwalk section, but it still smells divine. The washed out bridge near the TH has a stable logjam replacement and it does the job (see pic).
Flowers: lots of trillium and yellow violets, a few coltsfoot, but not much else so far.
Wildlife: heard a lot of quail, but only saw one. I didn't get a great look at them, but I also saw a family of elk at Slide Camp on my way out.
Bugs: quite a few buzzing bees and I spied a few mosquitoes, but they aren't biting (yet).
The road: a bit rougher than I'm used to, but they probably just haven't gotten around to regrading it - I can't remember when it happens, but it's sometime in spring (I think?).
The crowds: hiking on major holidays is the best. I saw one pair of backpackers on their way out (presumably from Spike Camp), but otherwise saw no one until I ran into a pair of guys making an ill-advised late afternoon attempt at Flapjack while I was on my way down. Eight more people on the Staircase loop and a couple more in the parking lot, but that's it.