Day Hike - Upper South Fork Skokomish River

Participants can carpool, meeting at 8:45 am at Haggen's, West Olympia, or , if coming from the north, at the fish hatchery parking lot on Skokomish Valley Road near US 101.  Driving distance is about 25 miles from Haggens to the fish hatchery, and another 25 miles from there to the end of Forest Road 2361.  Details will be emailed to registered participants a few days before hike.   No parking pass or  day  use fee is required at this trailhead.  For info on good carpooling practices and how to contact other participants for carpooling, please see this Mountaineers article on "Carpooling and Mountaineers Activities/Courses": https://www.mountaineers.org/blog/how-to-opt-in-for-carpooling  In May of 2024, about three miles of Forest Road 23 were badly potholed.  Even with an SUV or pickup truck, careful driving and cautious speed are needed.

Our trailhead is at 1,100' elevation at the end of Forest Road 2361, and the trail starts out on the discontinued portion of the road. It quickly becomes a trail on a narrow shelf overlooking the South Fork of the Skokomish River. Until October of 2022, this trail was obstructed by huge fallen Douglas fir and cedar trees, but was re-opened by the trail crew of the Back Country Horsemen of Washington.   The WTA's Backcountry Response Team did more work in July 2023, and the Back Country Horsemen of Washington Gray Wolf Trail Crew cleared the trail past the Olympic National Park boundary at 5.3 miles in May  2024. 

We will have a crossing of Rule Creek on a large fallen cedar log bridge with a handrail on one side.  We will then cross the Skokomish on a large fallen cedar "foot log" with no handrail (shown on the listing page for this trip0 at 1,400'.  A walkway has been leveled off the tops of these logs with axe adze.  Here and on several small feeders, mostly rock hops, trekking poles are strongly recommended.  Some wet crossings are likely in early June. At 2.6 miles and 1,600', we will come to a ford of the Skokomish, which is our intended turn-around point. We plan to have lunch at this spot. We will agree upon and observe a turn-around time.  We should be back at Haggens  by 4:00 pm.

When the leader was here May 24-26, 2024, the tread on this trail was mostly in pretty good shape and major obstacles were removed. It was designed to be passable by horses and pack mules, so the grades are not terribly steep, although it passes through some very rugged country.