Dosewallips State Park - Steam Donkey Trail — Monday, Dec. 23, 2013

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

It was a beautiful partly cloudy day and christmas eve. We decided to take a short local hike. The hike is listed at 3.5 miles round trip. It took us a little under 2 hours as we backtracked a few times. The hike offered a variety of sights: moss covered trees, river and streams, small waterfalls, lots of short bridges, even a history lesson. The hike was easy, good for the whole family. There were some slippery tree roots to watch out for and some slippery bridges. We started on the Maple Valley trail which starts behind the ranger station at the entrance to Dosewallips State Park and campground. The trail follows the Dosewallips River for awhile. Eventually you come to a trail called the Rhody Cutoff. If you want to skip most of the hike, you can take the cutoff, otherwise stay on the Maple Valley trail and continue on to Steam Donkey. The trail starts meandering up the hill, over some bridges over Phantom Creek. Eventually you come to an access road. Looking to the right, you see the sign for the Steam Donkey loop trail. I did not know what a steam donkey was and looked it up after the hike. It is a steam powered winch used by loggers to reel in huge logs. The trail climbs slightly then turns left and you start heading back down. We didn't take the Izett Railroad grade, just continued on the loop. When we looped back to the access road and the end of steam donkey, we looked to the left and found a sign to the Maple Valley trail that would take us back to the campground. On the way is a sign about the Izett Railroad which carried the logs down the mountain to Hood Canal to be floated out on log booms. The trail ends at the road leading up to the ranger station and the campground. The greatest thing about this hike was that we were the only ones there. We had it to ourselves (and our dog). I'm sure its not that way in the summer when the campground is full. We will be taking more local hikes this winter to skip the crowds, weather permitting!