Remote Trails Can Be Lonely -- Affected by Recession Too?

A few of us went up to the South Fork Skokomish River area (South of Lake Cushman) for what we recalled two years ago as “heavenly single-track.” Things change over time. Marriages do. Friends do. The type of cars we drive. Our bodies do. Work and trails do too. Over time, trails can become overgrown, and in a tough economy, coupled with remoteness can yield tough passages, whether biking, or hiking. So no heaven today. We parked a ¼ mile up North from the Brown Creek Campground area, rode up FS Rd # 2300 to #2361 to its end – about 12 miles.

Going back down the river involved taking trail #873. The first 1.6 miles goes fine until you come to a river crossing. When you cross (wade) the river you end up with a “hike-a-bike” bush-whack for about 3-4 miles. There were several sections of trail completely washed out by the river, and other sections of trail with 4-6 huge trees to climb over, under or largely deviate around -- places where one only gains a mile in a single hour. If you decide to not to cross the river (like we did initially) you end up with a “hike-a-bike” that drops over a cliff down to the river, or leads up a jeep trail back to #2361.
Here’s what we recommend based on our lessons learned.

• Park at Lebar Creek Horse Camp. (Don’t forget the $5 day fee like we did or you could receive a citation.)
• Ride trail #800 out that then connects to #873 after about a mile (heading in a northerly direction). The first 5 miles of the trail is quite well maintained along with a few technical pieces, including 7-8 quite steep, sharp-turning, and very exhilarating down-hill switch-backs as you head out. Coming back you may likely find some way too steep and long to ride.
• After 5-6 miles out on the trail, it sort of disappears and it becomes quite overgrown with vegetation. When you start hitting / seeing logs across the trail or see the trail head over a cliff to the river, that’s the sign to turn around and go back down (by sometimes going up very steeply).

Net for the day: 25-26 miles, 5 hours, 2,100’ in elevation gain, and twitching muscle spasms towards the end makes for spastic partners for one’s significant other (the wives). Fireworks and a good meal soothes the worst parts of this though.