Where have you been hiking lately?

Gary Knowels

Gary Knowels

Hack of all trades
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I've been hiking a lot more as of late, it's something that I used to do a lot of, but my excitement for it waxes and wanes. At this point in my life, I'm finding it to be my preferred outdoor activity. I'm hoping this thread will operate in a similar vein as other running threads here (what are you eating, what's in your smoker, etc.)

Contribute your hiking adventures whether fishing was involved or not. Trail names optional.

I'll kick it off with today's hike. Lower South Fork Skokomish Trail. The dog and I did 10.4 miles roundtrip on a lovely, lush river valley trail.
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The temperature was 38 degrees when we left the trailhead at 8:30, but with the sunshine and no wind, it warmed quickly. It was a balmy 60 degrees when we returned to the car at 1:00.
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Robin and I hung out near the river for lunch and I obliged her with some fetch in the aqua waters before heading back.
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PXL_20250301_185955138.MP.jpgPXL_20250301_172230074.MP.jpgI love a nice long walk in the rainforest.
 
That is a great and beautiful area. A buddy of mine hiking in that area encountered a cougar carrying a fawn on the trail a few years ago.
SF
 
Robin and I got out again today. I've been do a lot of relatively flat hikes and wanted to get some elevation gain in, but didn't want to deal with a ton of snow so we hit a popular sub-alpine lake.
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We were the first ones at the trailhead and headed up the trail at 8:00. It was a chilly start at 37 degrees and foggy.
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We got to the lake, had a snack, wandered about, and played in the water by ourselves. The silence was glorious.
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Just before heading back down, the fog burned off and it turned into a beautiful spring day.
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We encountered 22 people on our way out, quite the change from the first half of our morning.

We saw these fresh prints, anyone know what left them? That's a size 11.5 boot for reference.
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I took advantage of spring break this week and the gorgeous spring weather to get back on the trail with Robin.
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I decided to head to the Taylor River Trail as I hadn't been there for over a decade. Last time I went up the middle fork road it hadn't been paved, what a difference that makes! It was a quick and easy drive to the trailhead. We arrived at 7:00 with only 1 car in the lot, fairly certain it was an overnighter. We geared up and headed off to a brisk 35 degrees. The down valley breeze made things even chillier, thankfully I remembered my gloves.
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We headed up to Otter Falls and I let Robin play in Lipsy lake for a bit before continuing on.
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A bit further up trail we took in Big Creek Falls.
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My legs were feeling good and I wanted to get a few more miles in so we walked to the point where the Nordrum Lake trail splits off and had a snack. A couple hours later we were back at the car in an absolutely perfect 64 degrees. We only saw 6 people on the day, all within 30 minutes of the trailhead on our way out.
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Signs of spring we're all around.
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