Staircase Rapids — Saturday, May. 1, 2010

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

OOPS! We had read about the Staircase Rapids trail in Foghorn Outdoors "Washington Hiking" by Scott Leonard. It says, "the trail starts at Staircase Ranger Station on the west side of the River." Unfortunately, we followed signs to "trailhead and parking" and ended up at a well-signed trailhead saying "Staircase Rapids 1.0 mi" and started off - on the east side of the river. What we didn't realize is that while in theory this is a loop trail, the bridge connecting the east and west sides of the river, and hence the loop, is out and has been out for about 10 years. So we never saw the rapids, nor did we see the Dolly Varden Pool, nor the "Big Cedar" tree, nor the famous old growth forest or the Beaver Burn. Sigh. But we got a nice, easy walk in the woods, there were some big trees, and we did have a snack on big rocks overlooking the Skokomish River before turning back. Make sure you start on the west side of the river, not the trailhead where Wagonwheel Lake starts out.