Did a 2-night backpack, starting at the Upper South Fork Skokomish trailhead.  Hiked about 11 miles to camp at McGravey Lakes.  This was a tough hike.  While an awesome WTA crew logged it out last August, the trail is still absurdly steep in places, is often heavily overgrown, and is eroded into a rocky gully in places.  It's lightly used, so where it crosses meadows there's no obvious trail.  I was able to figure it out by looking for the occasional flagging or cairn, or just by aiming in what seemed like the likely direction.  GPS also helped. My weather was clear with temperatures in the 70s, which was a little too warm for gaining 4000 feet in a day. 

The trail enters the park about 6 miles in, and passes through some lovely meadows.  Just before Sundown Pass are a couple of pretty ponds.  On the north side of Sundown Pass, the junction with the Graves Creek Trail is unmarked, but you'll want to turn right for Lake Sundown.  I saw nobody camped at Lake Sundown.  The trail that climbs 800 feet from Lake Sundown to Six Ridge Pass was much better than what I'd hiked earlier that day:  good switchbacks with a decent gradient.  It's brushy with failing tread in places, but felt more like a real trail.  There are lovely views into the Olympics, including Mt. Olympus, along this trail.  From the top of the pass, it's about a mile to McGravey Lakes.  The trail on this side is rougher:  steep drops and some routefinding across meadows.  In all, it took me almost 8 hours to reach McGravey Lakes, where it was lovely.  I found a good place to pitch my tent on the other side of the outlet stream.  But the mosquitoes were pretty bad, and I took refuge in my tent soon after dinner.  I slept with the fly off, and had a nice view of the starry sky through the mesh.

The next day I left my camp and hiked with a light pack 2 miles east along Six Ridge to Belview Camp.  The terrain is humpy and knobby, and the trail gains and loses 200-300 feet repeatedly, rarely following contours.  Belview Camp was a nice enough spot, in a clump of trees next to a big wet meadow.  There was space for 2 tents, and a stream flowing nearby.  Despite the name, there's not much of a view from the site.  A 1930 topo map indicates that there was once a shelter here, but there's no sign of it now.  A bit of research revealed that this shelter was used by the Aircraft Warning Service in 1942 to watch for enemy aircraft, and was later destroyed by an avalanche.

I hiked back to McGravey and broke camp, hiking 5 miles back toward the trailhead.  I made camp at a site by the trail just outside the park boundary, at the south end of a big wet meadow.  I hiked out early the next morning, and met 4 other hikers on their way in.

We did a thru-hike of the Six Ridge from Upper South Fork Skokomish to North Fork Skokomish (Staircase).

Day 1 - Started at the Upper South Fork Skokomish trailhead. The trail was challenging with several steep areas and one ford. We opted to take the shoes off and put on sandals as the rocks were too slippery to cross. There are a few meadows that you pass through where it is difficult to find the trail. We did some route finding a couple miles prior to Sundown pass due to the lack of markers on the opposite side of the meadow. After a few minutes we were back on the trail heading to the pass. There were also several tarns going up to the pass and there were plenty of water sources from streams/rivers along the way. We dropped down over the pass to Sundown lake to camp for the night. There is a wonderful site on the opposite side of the lake and we had the area to ourselves for about 1 hour before a few families came and set up camp across the lake from us. Total of 6 tents at the lake that night (more then expected). We had a bear up on the slope behind the campsite and enjoyed watching it traverse from one side of the forest to the other. Total of about 8.6 miles with around 3,000 ft in elevation gain. 

Day 2 - Started from Sundown Lake and hopped onto Six Ridge trail. The trail was in better condition then expected and we climbed up to Six Ridge Pass without any issues. McGravey Lakes was absolutely beautiful and we wished we had stayed here due to the solitude and views. Next time we would stay at McGravey lakes instead of Sundown lake. Pay close attention for cairns and pink/orange flags tied to trees/bushes to mark the trail as there were marshy meadows where the trail was more challenging to find. Today involved more consistent gain and loss of elevation along the ridge and dropping into various lakes and basins along the path prior to camping at Belview for the night. There was plenty of water along the trail through Belview. We saw another bear today above the trail on an exposed slope and a bald eagle flew by which was festive and a neat experience for it being the 4th of July. About 5 miles today with the greatest continuous gain of elevation from Sundown Lake to Six Ridge pass of about 800 feet (but there was quite a bit of dropping several hundred feet and then climbing back up that amount again). We had Belview to ourselves that night as another party of two decided to find a place on the ridge about 1.2 miles away in a basin to camp for the night.

Day 3 - This was a long one with a ton of elevation loss. Started at Belview and climbed up to the highpoint of 4,550 on the ridge prior to the usual rolling up and down the ridge. Make sure to bring water for this section of the trail as there aren't any reliable streams from Belview to Big Log camp at the bottom of the ridge about 5.4 miles away. The most difficult part of the way was the switchbacks down to the river at the bottom. The trail is overgrown and requires you to pay attention to where you are as there are times where you need to look for flags to stay on track. Once you get to the bottom of the ridge, make sure to look for the cairns to tell you where to ford Seven Creek before finding the main bridge to get onto the other side of the North Fork Skok and Big Log camp area. We missed the cairn several times and climbed back up on the cliff to the left of where the easily-seen trail ended to see if we could figure out where to go next. My buddy and I got our wires crossed and realized we needed to ford this river before finding the bridge for the second river. This river was nearly knee-high so I focused quite a bit on not letting the cold-water make me go too quickly so I wouldn't fall over. It was smooth sailing on the other side of Seven Stream to the bridge and then from Big Log to Staircase Ranger area. About 11-12 miles for this leg.

Great trip. We slept with the fly 1/2 on so we could see the stars if they came out. We lucked out with no rain and the cooler temps (mid-50s) made climbing to the ridge enjoyable.

Total hiking for us was around 26-27 miles including little side adventures to find the trail. :-)

If there was a category between "Obstacles on trail" and "Trail difficult/impossible", that would be more accurate.  It is difficult for sure with obstacles but not impossible.  Brushy and steep are the key words for getting up to Six Ridge. 

The first day I did Camp Pleasant, which is nice, totally worth the large mossy big leaf maples and one of the biggest Douglas firs I've seen, which are just before the camp sites.  I was disappointed the sites weren't among the less common (for Staircase area) maples, but it was still nice; "pleasant" works.  It's to the right as you continue far down the Staircase Rapids trail past Big Log & Black & White primitive trail. A good bridge dumps you at the intersection of Pleasant and Six Ridge.  After you go right, there are a number of muddy spots and small creeks in the trail (are the trail in some sections) to hop across (probably why the camping wasn't near the maples) but I was able to keep from dunking a boot thanks to some nicely placed sticks & logs.  A tree fell over closer to the camps and is flagged off but it's easy to get around below- follow the red flagging but beware of DEEP mud there.  I counted 7-8 sites, 1 large and up to left right after privy, two across the stream, several small ones near the privy and one further down the trail in the woods right by stream, about 5 min walk & across small foot bridge if you want some isolation.

Day 2 - Back down the trail (0.8mi) to the intersection at the bridge and straight on to the Six Ridge trail.  Talk about unmaintained.  It shows right off the bat with some muddy spots and starting to get brushy.  You follow along the river for a bit until you come to a crossing just after the river splits into 2 channels at a Y.  This was a surprise to me as the description said nothing about a ford.  Reason always to be prepared. There is a short cairn (and now some orange flagging on a young maple branch where you cross the river right next to a huge angled log that's halfway into the river (not useable as a bridge unfortunately).  It's not deep but you will get wet and came nearly up to my knees at deepest but never felt like I was going to be swept over (I'm 5'4").  I put my boots back on and searched around a bit.  Trail goes directly back along river to the left.  More orange flagging will hopefully help next persons find it quicker.  It gets a little sloppy in there between salmon berries and thimble berries but stick close to the river for a bit and you'll see the "trail" trail soon.  After a few minutes you'll even find a very old sign with a bone on top leaning against a tree, marking the point where the "Six Ridge Trail" starts heading up. 

And up and up it goes.  Some switch backs, that are very salal-covered, will greet you first.  Then it gets more of a free for all climb method with winding and frequently steep sections.  You'll be pushing through loads of blueberries (very "sad" for you come mid July/August... I know... I was too early but did snag a few mostly ripe samples) plus salmon berries and huckleberries.  There are some down logs that you can climb over easily.  I had a full pack (including celebratory beers, not going light) and my shorter legs did just fine (may have to hug/scootch/flop over 1 or 2 depending on your leg length, part of the fun).   Someone seems to have trimmed several branches you'll duck under to just my height (thanks!!) but those weird "Tall" folks will have to duck.  It's all doable and I actually never lost the trail though was expecting too.  Occasionally may have to look around to make sure it's still there below the shrubs.  There are some pink flags for part of the way, plus some orange to help reassure. And I made the trail more visible for a while by removing some of the obscuring shrubs so you can see where it continues.  By some I mean tons, my hands are beat UP but there is still plenty left and you have to keep an eye out where you're going as you puff up hill through healthy but somewhat monotonous woods.  I startled several grouse up there and saw many varied thrush, so it's not bad for the birders.  I also spotted an open campable site on the left as you go up (west) maybe just on top of the ridge around 1.5 mile, or at least where it stops climbing so consistently, so a desperate camp could be made but that's it till Belview.  And there's ZERO water.  At all.  Even at what I'm guessing was Belview, not sure, it only had a small stagnant pool and some snow patches still in the low spots. 

For camping on the ridge I only saw 1 spot up on the ridge as the snowed areas did not look to be flat once melted.  There was 1 quite small flat site right off the trail semi-circled by short trees that I grabbed as a short search further up trail lead to larger steep snow field and made me not want to go further to look for more of an actual camp site.  My boots were not gonna stay dry through that much snow kicking.  I was about 4.5 miles up the ridge trail (GPS wasn't recording for a bit so I can't say for sure) so I was at least pretty close to where Belview should be if not at the only camp spot there, no signage to say. 

As for the ridge area once you get beyond the monotony of forest, with a few peeks of the landscape higher up, and the shrubs smacking you in the shins and head and over & over wiping the spider webs off your face (suggest a 'web breaker' stick to hold out in front of you for the trek)...where was I going again?... oh yes out of the forest you enter the open and diverse rocky ridge line with a view of Cushman and surrounding ridges.  Very nice.  But also overgrown and even more narrow, so be careful there.  I definitely was more hesitant to clear any of the lupines, bear grass, spirea, elderberries and lilies (oh my).  Take moments to check the trail and enjoy the views.  The flowers will be out for a while still and bear grass smells lovely by the way. 

I'm hoping to eventually get all the way down (another 9 miles) to Lake Sundown but not on the first backpack of the season after legs got lazy.  Note- bring extra water up there as you won't be able to rely on a source to refill. I was glad I had snow to melt but it took hours, 1 pot at a time.  It is a great trail for isolation.  I could tell no one had been up there in a long while.  Humming birds flitted about my camp near Belview and I heard what sounded like elk after dark just beyond the neighboring rocky outcrop and saw plenty of their droppings on the way up, plus some sort of carnivore scat and what looked to me a lot like cougar scrapes all along the trail, marking territory.  Stay safe and enjoy the wild!

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 ... 😉

At the present time, Six Ridge is more of a route than a trail, at times difficult to follow without a keen eye for flags, tags, or century-old blazes. In many places it is almost completely overgrown with blueberry or huckleberry bushes, and in others downed trees either partially block the way or obscure the trail. Be prepared for some route-finding, and occasionally having to backtrack a few yards when you realize you've followed the wrong elk track.

It also seems to defy the conventional wisdom on switchbacks, at times simply heading straight up a steep slope, or "elevator shafts" as my companion Mace calls them -- except there's no elevator, you just get the shaft!

The good news about all that: WTA is actively working on the trail, and there are some upcoming BCRTs that should do wonders for removing a few of these obstacles.

The official trip description seems to underestimate the trail, too. Based on our map-reading, we think it's more like 27 miles, not 21. Perhaps the official number doesn't count the final 6 miles on easy, well-groomed, National Park trails in the Staircase area? Also, while I'm not sure of the total elevation gain, you gain it all quite quickly on the climb up to Sundown Pass -- and then you lose a lot of it heading down to Sundown Lake, only to gain it again and more heading up to Six Ridge Pass, and then lose a bunch as you head down to Grady Lakes, then gain that back climbing up to Belview Camp, and the next day climbing some more back up to the crest of Six Ridge, which you then traverse for a number of miles before dropping down steeply toward Seven Stream and the North Fork Skokomish. There's a lot of up-and-down in there, with three ridgeline crossings.

So... that may sound like I'm trying to put you off of this trail, but what I'm really saying is that you will work hard for your payoff, yet there is indeed a payoff. You will be in very young mountains, not yet much eroded, and thus with steep sides, narrow crests, and deep ravines between them. Once you attain Sundown Pass, from that point forward you have never-ending views of this remote backcountry terrain. You'll cross from one watershed draining into Hood Canal to another that drains into the Quinault and the Pacific, and then back again. You'll gaze upon high valleys on neighboring ridge lines that likely were last visited by surveyors, who knows when.

And speaking of surveyors, you will follow the historic route of the O'Neill party from the 1890s, often using their tree blazes to find your own way, literally in their footsteps.

You may not see another human being for the better part of two days, until you drop down to the North Fork Skokomish and are on approach to Staircase.

From the Upper South Fork Skokomish to Belview Camp there are plenty of streams and lakes from which to refill your water containers, including a nice stream right in camp itself. After Belview, however, you must be prepared to carry all the water you need to carry you through until you reach the confluence of Seven Stream and the North Fork Skokomish.

The berries are out in full bloom right now, often growing right across the trail. This means the bears are all well-fed and not at all interested in you. We didn't see any bears, but we did see blue scat. We also saw plenty of evidence of a cougar using the trail as his personal route along the South Fork Skokomish as far as Startup Creek. Otherwise, the only macrofauna we encountered was a single elk.

Microfauna, on the other hand... while bugs in general were not bad, there are a number of yellowjacket nests along the trail, and we had the misfortune to accidentally disturb one, resulting in two of us getting stung. Keep an eye out.

Mosquitoes were not an issue on the trail or in camp, but they were in the Staircase parking lot!

Chanterelles are also popping up in great numbers right now, and plenty are to be found, especially during the descent down to Seven Stream.

If you're looking for a challenge, some solitude, some remoteness, and some sweeping vistas, Six Ridge just may be the route for you.