Beaver Lake — Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018

Beaver Lake Trail #629 (also shown as #783 on some older maps, which may once have connected to an upper trailhead on the Mountain Loop Scenic Byway)
Our initial plans were to hike the Whitechuck Bench Trail #731, but the potholed condition of NF23 caused us to turn around and abandon an attempt to reach the upper trailhead.  Then the attempt of reaching the lower trailhead of Whitechuck Bench Trail was thwarted by road grading in progress on NF22 (Next time we drive it, at least NF22 will be in better shape). The third option was Beaver Lake trail from the large parking lot opposite the NF22 junction.  The trail is mostly in the shade and follows an old RR grade for some length.  The trail is in good condition and shows signs of recent trail maintenance (Photo 1).  The trail goes through dense forest and there are only few places where you can see the river.   There is a single section of RR track from the logging railroad lying below the trail, just past the log with the cut in it.  As already reported in previous trip reports, the trail has been cut short due to destruction of the bridge by falling trees (Photo 2).  The WTA Hiking Guide described the bridge as "The trail will take you over a sturdy bridge across small Beaver Lake." Well, the bridge may have been sturdy enough for hikers, but it did not withstand the impact of the trees.  The blocked bridge has thus been redesignated to be just a view point (Photo 3) and is now a turnaround point.  There is also an abandoned, overgrown  section of old trail where barely visible remnants of a boardwalk parallel the trail before reaching the broken bridge.  There were a few stinging nettles along the trail, so hiking in short pants with bare legs is not recommended on this trail at the moment.  We applied plenty of insect repellent prior to starting the hike but did not encounter a bug problem.