Upper South Fork Skokomish River, Six Ridge — Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019

Six Ridge: wild, primitive, solitary, gorgeous, rough and difficult. It's tough to hike with a day pack (or so I presume), very difficult with a full pack, and downright brutal with a full pack plus tools and gear for clearing the logs. Just sayin' ...

So here's what my crazy volunteer WTA crew and I did over 6 days: we started clearing trees about 1/4 mile before Startup Creek on the Upper S. Fork Skok trail (picked up where the prior WTA crew left off). The difference was that we had a chain saw in addition to a hand saw crew, so we were able to clear trees faster - and big ones at that. But the cost is the weight of our tools and gas / oil combined with a ridiculously steep trail. Yikes.

We cleared from our starting point, through the Park boundary, all the way up to Sundown Lake and kept going. By the time we had to quit, we had cleared across the entire Six Ridge to the point where the downward switchbacks start that drop to the N. Fork Skok, which is where we exited (did a long car shuttle). And that included a LOT of just hiking time, getting the heavy tools and our bodies from one place to the next over that difficult terrain.

I still need to do the official tally, but we cleared somewhere in the order of 160 logs from quite small to quite large. The only things we left were humongous overhead ones that were either a walk-under or a slight duck (we had to weigh the ratio between time and fuel vs hiker benefit).

We have plans to get that east flank down to the N. Fork Skok next season. Be aware that the dozen or so logs across the trail aren't the problem. The problem is the horrible brush and the eroding trail as a result. Of course, we had a lot of weight on us and it was the end of a long day / long trip, so that didn't help. 

I checked the box that the trail is in "good" condition because, up to the end of the ridge, it's the best it can be. Still tough hiking and brushy, but it's Six Ridge ... so that's all I'll say ...

What we are very happy about is that the use of a chain saw allowed us to clear out trees that had been skipped over many times on prior trips.

Don't be fooled - getting rid of the trees makes it much more passable, but if and when you backpack across Six Ridge, do be prepared that it's a very difficult hike even without trees to climb over. However, it's super nice not to have those in the way!

The Upper S. Fork Skok trail is where you'll expend a whole lot of energy just getting up to Sundown Pass (which we did twice - once we worked up to there with tools, went back to camp and then re-hiked it the next day with our camping gear). Somehow when that trail was built they sorta forgot to put in switchbacks. I swear it follows the fall line. What a grunt! But then you get to the beauty of Sundown and you forget all the pain. I love that place. Then we spent our 3rd night camped at McGravy Lakes and boy is that ever pretty too! There was a resident black bear there. She had luscious, thick, dark black fur and was completely occupied enjoying the berries.

OH! Did I say BERRIES?? I ate myself nearly sick with the huckleberries. My favorites are the plump black ones. The berries were so thick that we didn't even have to slow down our walking pace - we could grab them on the fly.

The yellow jackets and / or hornets were aggravated. 5 out of the 7 of us got stung. I got hit 10 times. ☹️ Other than them, we did not have bugs.

But on the second to last day, another WTA volunteer named Albert surprised us by showing up with homemade banana bread and Popsicles kept cold by dry ice. What a joy and treat that was! Soooo much better than trail mix and freeze dried food.

That is the last BCRT (Backcountry Response Team) I will lead for this season. But I have plans for a couple of weekends of local trail work, so watch for that announcement when it gets posted on the WTA website. For now, maybe it's time for a short rest ... 😉