A lovely trail! I was out on a scouting trip for WTA's next Behind the Scenery tour of the Skookum Flats Trail. With just 400 feet of elevation gain over several miles, it is refreshingly flat...a great walk to warm up for the summer. You travel alongside the White River the entire time through forests young and old. A stunning waterfall several hundred feet tall spills over a clif just before the halfway point. There are a few trouble spots that WTA volunteers are working on this week; otherwise the terrain is easily travelled. Tidy little bridges take you over small, picturesque streams and you eventually come upon a larger suspension bridge that evokes scenes from Indiana Jones. Bright Calypso Orchids, blushing trillium and yellow violets are peaking out from the salal and ferns right now. Watch for Elk on your drive there; I saw six outside of Greenwater. I'll do this hike again on Friday, May 21 starting at 9 am. If you'd like to go Behind the Scenery with WTA, please email me for details at lace@wta.org.

Yetiman and I needed a short, easy hike and this one fit the bill. The trail is rife with giant trees, the river is very close by and scenic, and Skookum falls is a worthy destination. We saw awesome moss gardens, a female elk, huge logjams, nice campsites, plus the trees and the falls. The scramble up to the base of the falls is quite long and steep and a little slippery, but well worth the effort. We started out from the trailhead on the trail, then took the first detour available down to the riverbed. We followed that as far as we could, maybe 1/3 mile, before the river forced us back to the trail. We had to hop over a couple of small stream channels, then found ourselves at a campsite about 3/4 mile up the trail. The trail is mostly flat and is open to mtn bikes, a few of which passed us by politely. They had the right idea, as the trail is perfect for some fun biking. When we got to the falls, we didn't see the sign pointing to the trail up to the falls that is just across the small bridge over the stream. We tried to scramble up the mossy boulders to the falls, but that became almost suicidal due to the slippery steepness involved. We clambered down, crossed the small bridge, and then smacked our foreheads as we saw the sign pointing to the path upwards. Even the path is fairly tough, but doable. There are some excellent viewing spots of the falls up at the top, and some shelter from the fall's spray. We stayed there over an hour enjoying the spectacle and taking pictures. The hike back went quickly, and we got to see the trail section we bypassed on the way in. It was the nicest part, up on a high bank with huge trees and a view of the river below. I was worried that this hike would be not so great due to the road being right across the river, and the hills beyond the trail being cris-crossed with FS roads going up to Suntop, but none of that is visible or intrudes on the hike. There was a great wilderness feel to the forest and the river, even though it is not wilderness. I also expected crowds on a Sunday, but we saw only three bikers and two hikers in six hours there. The drive took just 90 minutes from Lynnwood.

I caught another nice day between storms. The last one left snow on the trees above 3,000 feet, so I decided to visit a lowland hike and just cruise along the White River. Skookum Flats Trail is popular with mountain bikers and the occasional hiker, no ATV's or horses are allowed. You can access the trail from the north end off Huckleberry Creek Road (FS 73) or on the south from Buck Creek Road (FS 7160). It's an upsy downsy route, a nice stroll next to a pretty river. About half way between Buck Creek Trail junction and Skookum Falls, there is a sunny gravel bar, a favorite lunch spot of mine. I wandered out by the river (which was rather low) and sunned awhile. Along the route there are occasional views of the Snoquera Palisades across the valley. The Skookum Falls are nice in the spring, but barely existant after such a dry summer. This is a nice route for children, if you watch for the occasional steep bank and bicycles. Also watch crossing some of the old trestles and bridges, they're slippery. There was a layer of ice in the parking lot at Camp Shepard and some folks were scraping off some pretty serious windshield ice, so it got pretty cold Saturday night. I wore lots of layers and did just fine, but the trail is mainly in heavy shade of mature trees, so bundle up, at least until spring comes again. Think snow! P.S. I also checked out a portion of the Skookum Flats trail south of FS 7160, which used to follow the river fairly closely. The White does tend to regularly chew away at its banks and the trail has been rerouted to pass near the old emergency air strip. A plane even landed on the strip when I was standing there looking at it! There is a kind of casual campground here (drive in)which seems popular with the trailer and camper crowd. A little too noisy for my tastes.

A beautiful sunny day for a relaxing hike along the White River. I had helped WTA two weeks ago do some trail maintenace on this trail and I wanted to show my wife our efforts. The trail looked great where we had worked, but down the trail we ran into some standing water and three blowdowns. The trail was easy and very relaxing as we went to the waterfalls (about 3 miles from the trailhead) and ate a snack. This is a good hike for beginners and little legs. The suspension bridge provides some excitement and the elevation gain is minimal. There are some huge old growth trees that make you feel like you are in the deep forest and provide good scenery for the beginning hiker. You parallel the White River and see its swift current carrying the milky glacier runoff. Great day hiking is always a good mental health day from work.

I had a strong need to stretch my legs and escape the pressures of modern life . This trail popped to mind and I was off. I parked at the West Trailhead, about 1 mi W of Camp Sheppard. Headed up the trail and right away I ran into a bridge in serious need of repair. You would have needed crampons to walk across it, it was leaning so bad. Snuck around that and carried on up the trail, a very handsome trail with cedars and firs, good sized ones, and ferns and mosses that the smattering of snow made magical. Soon I came to the stairway (to heaven') and carefully climbed its snowy planks. Phew! I was at the top of the Palisades, about 3200'. The trail wanders to the edge for a lookout over the valley then back inland four times. Make sure you stop at each viewpoint. On a clear day Rainier would be a beauty, big and majestic. But that was not to bee for me. The clouds were hanging at about 6000' so I just saw the river, peeks at the highway, Suntop and various other local peaks. But that was enough. I hit snow at about 3000'. At the top there was 2-4"" on the trail, nice and crunchy to walk on. For the most part I had no use for the snowshoes on my pack, but crossing the second clearcut section (4500') it got deep and I put them on for a half mile or so. I saw faint evidence of old footprints in the snow, but nothing fresh. I felt like I was blazing new ground. Got to the shelter at the junction with Ranger Creek trail and took a long break, drank some coffee, and soaked up a few sun rays. Headed back down the Ranger Crk trail. It had a lot of fresh snow over a fairly hard crust. I was glad for my instep crampons. It was beautiful, white and lonely as I zipped down the trail. I came out at the Buck Creek bridge, crossed the river and walked down the Skookum Flats trail to the suspension bridge, crossed and walked down the highway (ugh) for 1.5 mi to my car. All in all this was a perfect hike. I saw no one else all day, the hiking was free of major trouble, and the scenery was inspiring. 13 mi total , about 3000' elev gain.