I took two days off work to do my first overnight backpack of the season at Flapjack Lakes. I had resolved to go to Flapjack Lakes a many months ago, back when it was one of the few backcountry backpacking destinations that had mostly melted out. Finding time to actually go proved troublesome, so it wasn't until now that I actually made it. Of course, now there are many other possibilites open, but I'd already decided on Flapjack, so thence I went. I left home at around 8:00am, but had to stop at REI to pick out some new boots. I had bought new boots back in January, but after many, many uncomfortable miles in them, I finally gave up on them and exchanged them. Good move, I think. This stop, plus traffic, plus subsequent stops at Costco and Safeway for provisions, plus to drive to Staircase, plus stopping at the ranger station for a permit all added up to me hitting the trail just before 3pm. Speaking of permits, this is one of those heavily-used areas, and camping is limited. 50% of the permits can be reserved ahed of time, 50% are avaiable the day-of. I figured that on a Tuesday I could go the "walk-in" route, and fortunately, I was right. After obtaining my permit, I parked the car, hoisted pack, and set off on the N. Fork Skokomish River Trail. The trail starts out on an old abandoned road, and the going was easy. There was a huge washout right at the beginning of the trail, but the trail has been rerouted. The downside of the retoure is that you are deprived of a great view up the Skokomish River Valley. The upside, of course, is that you don't fall into the river. The trail works its way upvalley, gently gaining elevation. Occasional glipses of the river present themselves, but unless you drop down to one of the numberous camps, you never get a full view. The canopy thins considerably when you enter the area hit by the 1985 burn, thus allowing a good bit of sunshine to make its way down to the trail (yes, I was hiking on a sunny day). All in all, it makes for very pleasant, carefree walking. In rather short order, my time along the Skokomish came to an end and it was time to get to work. Switchbacks begin immediately after the turn onto the Flapjack Lakes trail. The trail levels off in a mile, skirting the hillside to Madeline Creek. The bridge was on the losing side of an arguement with a falling tree, and was closed as a result. There is a detour down to a ford just below the bridge. The ford was running about 24". There was also a log/boulder hop route just below the ford. I went the log route. I made it across without getting a drop of water on my boots, but I have to admit that as I chivvied across the logs, the ford sure looked better. After Madeleine creek, the trail becomes increasingly sttep and rocky. The last half-mile between the Black and White Lakes junction and the Flapjacks is particularly rough going. That was one of the longest half-miles I've hiked. Going up, I thought it just seemed tough because I was getting tired, but it seemed just as bad on the way down, so I have to conclude that it was in fact a tough bit of trail. I made it to the lakes just before 6:30. The lakes were sparkling green in the late afternoon sun. I scouted all the campsites before selecting mine. The best spot I found was at the west end of the west lake, but sadly, there was already a tent set up there. I ended up taking a spot on the east lake, with great views of the lake and up to Mt. Cruiser. I set up camp, ate dinner, hung my food, and explored the lakeshore. There were a bunch of moquitoes up there, but there were easily deterred by a bit of DEET. I settled into my tent bag as the sun settled beyod the horizon, the evening still blissfully warm. The view out my tent door of craggy Mt. Cruiser standing high above the lake provided the perfect backdrop for a peaceful night's sleep. I awoke at around 6:00am the next morning by 7:00 found myself engaged in the ritual camping meal of oatmeal and hot chocolate. While I ate, there seemed to be an endless stream of deer parading about the environs of my campsite. First a does and her two fawns, then another young doe, and later and older doe. One after another after another they just come tromping through, often within feet of me, stopping occasionally to munch on vegetation and whatnot. There's something about the Olympic National Park that causes the aminals inside to be oblivous to human activity. After breakfast, I re-hung my food and headed up the trail to Gladys Divide. The trail was snow-free 75% of the way to the divide, and routfinding was easy thereafter...just follow the valley up! What an amazing place! The view of Gladys and Cruiser to either side, and the Skokomish Valley and south Olympics behind were breataking. From the divide, the a new world opened up. Here was a place too wild, too beautiful for mortal man. The valley below, the headwaters of the Hamma Hamma, Mt. Skokomish, the resonating crash of waterfalls...Eden itself spread out before my eyes. I could have spent an entire day exploring the Gladys Divide area. But, as always, time was limted. I made my way back down the the lakes and broke camp. The way down was just as steep and rocky as it had been going up. Again, due to time limitations, I had to skip my hoped-for sidetrip to the Black and White Lakes. I recrossed Madeliene creek (once again over the logjam...had I learnt nothing?) and enjoyed lunch on the other side. Then down and back the the trail head, back to Hoodsport for the requisite stop at the Hoodpost Coffee Company for a scoop of the utterly amazing Olympic Mountain Ice Cream (the world's best, so fresh, so tasty), and then the long drive home.

We left the trailhead at Staircase at 8:00 a.m. and headed up the well maintained North Fork Skokomish River Trail to Big Log Camp and then turned uphill on the Black&White Lakes Trail. The trail was steep, climbing nearly 3000' in 2.3 miles with nary a switchback! As we neared the lakes, the weather turned cool, cloudy and breezy and we encountered patches of snow. By the time we reached the trail junction sign, the snow was deep enough to completely obscure the trail. It took us another 20 minutes of route-finding to reach the lake. The lake was still frozen and just beginning to thaw. Avalanche and Glacier Lilies were beginning push up through the melting snow. After a short rest we headed back to the trail junction and down the the Black&White Way trail to the Flapjack Lakes trial. Oddly, this trail is not marked on the sign at the junction!. The trail was difficult to follow at first, due to the snow and the water running down the trail. There were several blowdowns along this trail, most notably a large fir tree about 4 ft. in diameter. We soon reached the Flapjack Lakes Trail and started back down towards the North Fork Skokomish River Trail. The remaining 7 miles were pretty easy going, the only obstacle being the closed bridge at Madeline Creek. We arrived back at the trailhead at 6:00 pm: 15 miles in 10 hrs. A strenuous hike and a beautiful lake; well worth the effort!

This being our first trip to the Staircase area we set aside a full five days to explore as much as possible. The road is now open and entrance to the park was free due to National Park Week. We left the trailhead high with optimism and Staircase did not let us down. Day 1: We decided to try for the Flap Jack and Black & White lakes. Average snow levels were between 2000 and 3000 feet with a wide degree of depth, but no specific reports from the Flap Jacks area. The trail is moderate and in good condition. A few blow downs here and there but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. Our first obstacle was an expected one, the bridge over Madeline creek. The bridge has been crushed by a tree and so there is a small path leading down to a ford. Crossing proved easy and the sun was shinning on the far bank, waiting to warm chilly feet. We spotted our first real signs of snow soon after the creek and by 2000 feet were trudging along shin deep. At just about 2800 feet we were turned around. The hillside has washed out and was covered with snow making the trail hard to discern on the other side. Happily we spent the night at a nice camp just near the Madeline creek bridge. Day 2: Heading down from the Flap Jacks trail we set our sights toward the Nine Stream camp. Knowing the snow level to start around 2000 ft. we had high hopes of making it there. There are a few good small stream crossings and a fair amount of water on the trail past the Skokomish Bridge. Watch the cliff above the marshy area as we spotted elk foraging above us. The snow started on the Eight Stream bridge and within a mile was knee deep. We trudged on through and were treated to wonderful solitude and a perfectly tent sized tree well to camp in. Watch your step near the Privy(if you go, you'll understand). Day 3: Snow was fairly thick past the Nine Stream so we headed back down river. The weekend brought fellow hikers and we found Camp Pleasant and Big Log camp to be occupied, so we chanced a walk up the Six Ridge Trail and were pleased to find a very nice camp just before Seven Stream. The trail is washed out on both sides of the stream, but if you're in for route finding this one won't let you down. Day 4: Having plenty of time and running out of low altitude trail we made our way back to the trailhead and hiked up the west side of the river. This is a beautiful trail. Expect a lot of day trippers for the first mile or so as the interpretative trail makes its way to the old bridge site. There appears to be a very large wash out past the Beaver Fire area, but walking around will lead you back to the trail in less than a minute. Fording the Four Stream was brisk but we again met the sun on the far bank and feet were quickly warmed. There are some nice campsites right along the river. We found the best one to be the very last. A sign back on the trail states "End of Trail", a look to the map shows otherwise. We followed this trail up to 1800 ft. and thought it to be well worth the steep climb. Picture a trail that looks as though it has not seen human feet in thirty years. The path was completely covered in moss, overgrowth and downed trees the entire way. Highlights were a massive old growth log with steps cut in each end, the trail being the log itself. Also, an area that looks like a simple bed of moss growing at the bottom of a stream. Upon closer inspection the moss is actually growing on and eating away an old foot bridge, use caution. I would suggest turning around here, if you continue on you will end up steeply walking yourself out of the park as we did. Keep an eye out for elk and cougars as the tracks and scat are thick. Day 5: Being so close to the trailhead on our last day we slept in a bit and tried to prolong our stay. The Staircase Rapids trail is a nice one so we enjoyed it slowly on our way back out. The smell of soap and dryer softener announced "The Humans" and soon we found ourselves back in the mix of clean people by the parking lot. Proud of our dirt and sweat we loaded the car with gear, all the while planning our next backcountry trip. The wilderness never lets us down and like always we talk of going in deeper and staying in longer the whole ride home.

Day 1) arrived at staircase (1.5mi hike from the closed road to the main staircase campground). The road is always closed in winter so plan on a little walk to get to the campground. We were concerned that our car might be illegally parked because there are a bunch of signs stating that it was for "day use only", but I don't think this is an issue in the winter. Some locals were also parked there just taking a walk and they also said that it was never an issue. We arrived late and so we camped for free in the (completely deserted!) staircase campground. Backcountry permits were available to be filled out and you can mail in payment later. Main toilets and water was shut off but decent pit toilets with paper were open. Don't plan on making a fire if you visit in the winter. Day 2) The bridge for Staircase rapids is out still, so if you want to hike more than a mile, make sure you are on the east side of the river starting out. We wanted to make it to flapjack lakes but made terrible time (made it about 6miles instead of 8) becasue MOST of the bridges were out and the water level was high. This is what I remember: - TONS of trees over the trail. Don't even bother going if you can't hop a couple feet off the ground with a pack on. - about .25mi in, trail slid into the Skokomish and there is a somewhat scary path you can take around the precipice but I suggest just taking the somewhat not-noticeable path around. - a mile in, there is a decent little bridge made out of a log that has a handrail. - 3 more rivers between 6" and 24" deep, fast flowing current though. We managed to get over all of them by rock hopping and carefully sliding along fallen trees. - The final doozy is the bigger river (forget the name) 2 miles after the turn off the main trail to get to flapjack. The bridge crossing the gulley was smashed by a tree and nearly folded in half. It is still there and you could *probably* cross without dying, but it would be foolish to try. Instead we spent the better part of an hour picking our way down the ravine via a "bypass" that leads to a river 3' deep and flowing fast. Lots of logs to jump across on but not for the faint-hearted because if you fell it would at a minimum be fairly scary and very cold (especially if you are carrying 45lb packs like we were). By this time it was about 3:00 and since it starts getting really dark under the trees at 4 we decided to call it. There was a great little camping spot just on the other side of the river that we called home. Day 3) The way out was much easier because we knew how to cross all of the streams. Took about 4-5 hours to pack the entire distance back to the car (about 7-7.5 miles) including a little lunch break. Overall a great little adventure for a 3-day weekend. Gotta go hiking in the rain more often! Oh, and we didn't see a SINGLE soul on any of the trails, just a couple of people at the car and one guy taking pictures at Staircase campground.

I took the family camping at Staircase and I went hiking. I did not want to stay at Staircase, but my kiddo wanted to go camping, so for her sake I suffered with the crowds and noise. God, I hate the front country in the summer. I’m not going back to Staircase until AFTER they lock the gate for the winter. Anyway, my kiddo had a good time and she got her first Jr. Ranger Badge. A ranger suggested that I hike to Wagon Wheel Lake :shakehead: instead of hiking to Gladys Divide. But, I’ve been to Wagon wheel Lake and I know better. I’m even a little bit miffed that the ranger tried so hard to get me to do Wagon Wheel instead of Gladys. But he seemed like a nice guy so I’ll try not to hold it against him. :) I started my hike at 6:30 AM and finished at 6:30 PM. The hike up to Flapjack lakes was easy for me, but I was getting hot so I jumped in the lake with all my clothes on. When I got out of the lake a swarm of blood sucking bugs tried to eat me. To avoid being eaten I sat in the lake with just my head sticking out of the water. I felt very refreshed after my dunk in that cold lake. When I was done swimming I got away from the area as fast as I could. I had plenty of energy left to go for the Gladys Divide, 1,100 feet and one mile up the trail. The divide was great! There was just enough of a breeze on the divide to keep all the bugs away. I cooked up a big meaty protein filled lunch while I was soaking up the views. I always hike alone, but when I was on the divide, I felt a little bit creeped out being all alone and so far from the trail head. The divide is a very surreal area. Just before the divide I saw two deer and just before the finish of my hike I saw two grouse. Horseflies circled me and started following me several times but I managed to scare them off with my trekking poles. GPS Totals from campsite to campsite 18.5 Miles RT 4,300 Feet Elevation Gain More pictures, maps and details on my blog http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2009/07/gladys-divide-and-flap-jack-lakes.html