Flapjack Lakes via North Fork Skokomish River, Black & White Lakes — Saturday, Jul. 22, 2017

This was the first time I’ve been hiking—let alone backpacking—in Olympic National Park. I was one of a group of 4. We got started around 10:30, heading up the North Skokomish River Trail. The trail is rocky and is shared with stock, so we found ourselves watching our steps.

When we turned onto the trail towards Flapjack Lakes, the trail got much steeper. A good chunk of this trail section traverses the steep side of Mount Lincoln, and the trail is fairly narrow. There was not much in the way of a view as we worked our way upwards through the forest, with the exception of the Madeline Creek crossing and Donahue Creek Falls. We also enjoyed the refreshing rush of cool air from the moving water.

Before turning left onto the primitive trail leading to the Black & White Lakes, we changed into long pants because of the brush. Thorns abound in the early section. This is also when the mosquitoes began to get really troublesome. The going is steep, the trail is narrow, and we crossed Donahue Creek 3 times.

As we reached the final approach to the lake, we walked through a meadow that was bursting with wildflowers. There were tiger lilies, avalanche lilies, beargrass, and other flowers I did not identify. After curving around a small ridge, the trail finally reaches the lake. The mosquitoes that we were waving away during the hike up had subsided, and we took a quick swim in the lake.

As dusk approached, though, the mosquitoes began swarming. We had DEET but no mosquito nets—a huge mistake. Even after applying the DEET we all were getting bitten all over, even through our clothes. After eating as quickly as we could, we retreated into our tents.

The next morning was the evening in reverse, mosquito-wise. We ate a quick breakfast and began the descent as speedily as we could. On the way down we encountered a ranger who had spent the night at Flapjack Lakes and said that the bugs were the worst he had ever seen—including his experiences in Canada and Alaska.

Beautiful lake. Beautiful views from the ridge. BRING BUG SPRAY.