Today I decided to try to make it to Flapjack Lakes. This was a LONG day hike (approx 16 miles roundtrip). The first part of the trip up the North Fork Skokomish was pretty uneventful. Same blowdowns as when I was here last time. Don't worry about them as they are easy to walk around or duck under. On the way to the Flapjack trailhead, I could see many of the surrounding mountains covered in snow. Along the way I did have to cross two areas where water was flowing across the trail. Again not hard, just some agile jumping from rock to rock. This is my first time up this trail (to Flapjack Lakes). The first two miles weren't bad. The next two miles got much steeper. Madeline and Donahue creeks were gushing. Very pretty and impressive. About a half mile from the lakes, you start to run into a fair amount of snow. Just follow the tracks and you should be able to skip the spots where you might sink a few feet. The lakes are still frozen over. But there are bare areas around the lake which is great for resting and eating lunch.

Wanted to enjoy the good weather and lack of snow to try and get one more visit to a alpine lake in. Me and my father hiked the 7 miles up to FlapJack Lakes, enjoyed lunch on the shores of the now frozen lake and then hiked out. The trail is in good shape, icy at the top so be careful. Very little snow around the lake. Epic day overall.

A WTA Back Country Response Team of 9 cleared 60+ logs from the Upper South Fork Skok and Six Ridge trails Sept 11-15. Several large logs remain on Six Ridge Trail from Seven Stream to about 600 feet of elevation above Seven Stream. Had to leave some work for next year.

For our first ever backpacking trip, my girlfriend and I decided to hike to one of the camps up the Skokomish Valley and maybe day hike up to Flapjack. When we were getting our permit, the ranger suggested trying for one of the no-reservation-required campsites along the trail to Flapjack. Good advice! We snagged an lovely secluded campsite along Madeleine Creek (look for trail to left right after crossing the first major creek). There's only the one there, but there were maybe 4 other sites near the intersection with the trail to Black & White Lakes -- though those require a substantial further climb, and were not quite as nice. The trail along the valley floor is in great shape - the toughest part is at the beginning where there's a detour through some bumpier terrain. This first part is very gentle, but the grade just about doubles once you hit the spur to Flapjack - and doubles again after where we camped. Glad we did not have to hike the whole way up to the lake with full packs - a strenuous climb even on a fairly cool day with only a daypack-type load. Also seemed quite a bit longer than the posted 4 miles from the valley trail to the lakes. Biggest issue were a number of blowdowns in the general area of Madeleine. There's no easy way around most, and one particularly large tree required some careful shimmying to get around. One reason to do this hike soon - amazing haul of berries, both blueberries and red huckleberries. Only a few along the valley trail, but they start in earnest once you start climbing, with patches continuing almost all the way up to the lake. Good excuse to take a few rest breaks. The lakes themselves were fairly typical smallish subalpine lakes, but with a pretty green color and some pretty dramatic mountains as a backdrop.