Went up the Westside Road to North Puyallup River camp Saturday night after picking up my permit at the Longmire WIC, which is now open for summer hours.
Westside Road is basically snow free; one small patch of snow at Round Pass across the road, but there are tracks melted in that get you through without needing to walk on the snow. There are also a few trees down and a small stream cutting across the road but nothing the is an impediment to hikers, and I don't think to bikes either (maybe the stream would cause a dismount).
The North Puyallup Trail is a bit of an obstacle course, there are a lot of downed trees along it. Everything is passable, but it takes some care and time. There are a lot of very interesting rock formations along this trail! Seemed like every couple hundred feet there was a section of basalt with completely different orientations than the ones before it. There was also quite a bit of fresh bear scat, but no bear was seen.
North Puyallup River Camp is snow free. There is a very branchy tree down just before the spur that takes you to to individual camp sites sitting too high to go over. I tried to bend as many of the branches back to make getting under easier, but they were still too green to break away so not sure how many will stay where I put them. I'll be letting the Park know about it; hopefully they can clear it before peak season. There was also a small creek running down about 6 feet of the spur trail to the individual sites, turning onto the Wonderland, running about 4 ft on the Wonderland and then running over the side of the trail. Toilets had not yet been cleaned, though I did tidy up the one I used a bit. Bear poles are also still down, so you'll need a bear can if camping.
Usual flower suspects for this time of year were out; yellow violets, some early vanilla leaf, coltsfoot, Siberian spring beauty, trillium, salmon berry flowers, and one calypso orchid.
Bugs weren't biting, but oh my goodness were they irritating. Every third photo was bombed by at least one of the swarming bugs around me.
Was an incredible night, and a great way to start off my backpacking in the Park this year!
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