Carbon River, 2019

New Carbon River Ranger Station

The Carbon River trail is another walking trail similar to the Coal Mines Trail.  Originally it was a frequently flood damaged road that led up to the campground by the Carbon River.  The road has been closed to cars for a few years now and the campground is only accessible on foot to backpackers or bicyclers.  It is about 5 miles from the trailhead to the campground and another 3.5 miles to the glacier.  

The road is wide, graveled in most places and tree lined, nice shade on a warm day

This area is an old growth rain forest with huge trees, the majority of which were cedar, fir, hemlock and alder.  It was mined for coal and copper but the forest was not commercially logged.  Bob was our measuring rod and posed by several trees to show how big they are.  While not as big as the trees we saw in the Redwoods, these are still impressive.  We only saw a few tree stumps with notches indicating the trees had been cut down to make way for the road; however, the trail winds around and appears to try to avoid the removal of as many big trees as possible. 

Some of the trees have fallen, or not quite fallen.  Most of the trees have long dangling clumps of witch’s hair lichen hanging from the branches and moss growing on the sides of the trunks.   

 Carbon River with milky glacier water

It is a lovely walk in an old forest and has access in a couple of places to the river.  The water comes from the glacier and is a milky color, extremely cold and is only minutes away from being ice.  

 Bob illustrates how big the trees are . . .

some of the trees had "caves". . .

Wow, 8 feet at the base diameter or about 25 or 26 feet around!

There is also a .3 mile loop hike in the forest that begins right at the trailhead before reaching the main trail.  Part way along the main trail is another .3 mile or about ½ mile round trip offshoot trail to the Washington Mining & Milling Company copper mine ruins.  The trail to the mine starts out level but quickly becomes steep and climbs for most of the way to the mine.

Not many flowers on this woodsy trail the day we were there.  The find of the day was Indian Pipe, the first we have seen this year.  Wildlife was limited to a moth, a Douglas Squirrel, and a few bird calls. 

 Indian Pipe

 butterfly or moth?  we couldn't find this one in any of our books

 He's tiny and blends in but the squirrel is sitting on the log eating a cone nut

The bunch berry or Canadian dogwood had already gone to berry stage

The new ranger station where campers can get a backpacking camping permit is now about 1.5 miles from the trailhead.  The outhouses are still located next to the old ranger station right at the trailhead.  We did approximately 4.5 miles round trip with a brief stop for lunch at the turn around spot. 

Count for the day, 22 people, including a family of 6 on bikes, and two men on bikes with their camping gear in a bike trailer, no dogs.  Note, the bulletin board states that only well trained service dogs are allowed on this trail.  The board also has instructions about what to do if a hiker encounters a bear or a cougar. 

No bears or cougars on our hike