We started a little before 10 am at the Shady Ln TH, which is near the Copper Creek TH on FS road 2451. Only a few other cars. No bathrooms and parking is on the side of the road. A few big potholes near the TH.

Shady Ln Trail was a little overgrown at first but fine for most of it. Very pleasant trail with a few neat bridges and good river views. We reached the N Fork Skokomish River TH after 0.85 flat miles.

We followed the N Fork Skokomish River Trail for about 3.5 miles until the turnoff for Flapjack Lakes/Gladys Divide. This was a very gentle grade and wide trail.

The Flapjack Lakes Trail is in great condition besides a few downed trees that require climbing over or under and a huge tree that necessitates a temporary bypass trail. Half a mile from the lakes there is a sign saying Flapjack to the right and Black and White Lakes to the left.

On the Gladys Divide Way Trail, the snow fields started at about 4,500 feet. We were able to do it with no poles or other snow gear, but many people would likely find poles useful. The snowfields were steep at times and both of us fell once on the way down. At the divide, elevation 5,000 feet, there is a good view into the Mt. Skokomish Wilderness, with Mt. Henderson, Mt. Skokomish, and Mt. Cruiser visible from left to right. There is a trail that continues to Mt. Gladys to the left, but we did not want to fight more snow. There were not many footprints in the snow continuing past the divide.

About a mile from the Staircase campground area at the suspension bridge, we decided to take a right and finish the last mile to the campgrounds using the suspension bridge and the Staircase Rapids Nature Trail. There were a lot more trail users on this section of trail. The trail is graveled in areas and has fantastic river views that aren't matched on the N Fork Skokomish River Trail on the north side of the river.

Overall it's a great hike with beautiful rivers, lakes, and waterfalls that's best done when the snow is more melted out to allow an easier Mt. Gladys summit. We totalled 18.5 miles and 4,600 feet of elevation gain.

Day hike to Flapjack Lakes and back out of Staircase. It was drizzly and cool and we only saw maybe a dozen other people in the 9 hours we spent out there. The slope of the trail is very gradual relative to other western Washington mountain day hikes so the miles went by comfortably. There are a few blowdowns, one with a trail around it and the others easily crawled over. There were mosquitoes when it wasn’t raining but even without bug spray they weren’t terrible. The lakes were foggy and still, but very peaceful. Will have to return another day for view of mountains above the lakes. We Started out on the staircase trail side and crossed the bridge at the 1 mile mark, and when we came back we completed the little loop to see some new sites on our last mile. Great day!

A few blowdowns that really shouldn't be an issue for most. They proved challenging, but navigable to a few in our group. If blowdowns sometimes give you trouble, be prepared to straddle or wiggle under a few large trees.

Snow is all but gone now. There are some small patches here and there with the trail only cross one small patch at this point. Around the lakes is mostly clear now. No special considerations at this point.

Great trip up to Flapjack Lakes. The drive to Staircase is really smooth right now with few potholes on the gravel road. Any vehicle should be fine. From Staircase, it's a completely flat 3-4 mile hike to Spike Camp. There were no permits left for Flapjack Lakes so we got one for Spike Camp. The campground is fairly small and doesn't have much going on. Just a spot to camp in the woods. There's a toilet and bear wire. We set up camp and set out to Flapjack lakes which is pretty steep. Another 4 miles or so later and we got to the lakes. Super beautiful. I definitely recommend walking around the lakes. There's a cool giant rock formation at the north end of the lake you can swim to and jump off of. Water is freezing though. Still a few patches of snow around the lake. The trail is completely snow free though. We didn't try to go up to Glady's divide but we ran into people that tried and turned around because of the snow conditions up there. I'd say the hike is a solid 4 stars. Lakes are great and pretty and the Olympic forest is always nice but there aren't many great viewpoints looking down at other mountains. 

Winter is still lurking at Flapjack Lakes!
Most of the trail is great. The big Cedar Tree is still an obstacle on the way up with a pretty easy re-route. There is one tree across the trail before Madeline and three more between Madeline and Donahue. Not tremendously difficult but I do wish my legs were longer and not sure I would like to go over them will a full backpack.

Snow begins a bit after the Black and White Lakes junction. There is a lot of melting happening underneath the snow and much caution should be taken.

I will include pictures at the lake. Still snow covering pretty much everywhere. Backpackers might want to give it more time to melt out.