Skookum Falls, 2022

 

 

 

 

 

White River as seen from the Skookum Falls trail

 

Skookum Falls are just outside the boundary of the Mt. Rainier National Park.  The Forest Service/National Park Pass is required.  We have been on this hike a couple of times previously.  This time we noticed a lot more downed trees along the trail.  Many of the trees had broken off about 20 ft up and others had wedged into adjacent trees.

 

 

 

The trail runs along the White River before entering the forest.  Although the trail goes beyond the falls we stopped at the falls for a snack before heading back to the car.  It was 4.5 miles RT with an elevation gain of about 300 ft.  The rangers or trail crews had been busy cutting and removing things that were obstructing the trail.  Only in one place did we have to walk around a downed tree.

 

 

Trillium

 

 

Conk

 

Skunk Cabbage

 

 

Yellow Stream Violet

  

The weather has still been cooler than usual and there were not as many things blooming as we had hoped for.  

 

 

 

 

 Elk watching me

 

Elk crossing the river

 

The most exciting event of the day was an encounter with a small herd of elk.  We heard a branch snap and looked around to see if one was falling close by.  Then through the bare branches we saw elk near the river’s edge.  They were most likely aware of us before we saw them.  There were 6 females and two males.  The dominant male was wearing a bright green tracking collar.  Hence, a biologist somewhere knows where he is and where his little group is.  Bob wanted to get closer to get pictures without all the branches in the way and inched carefully forward while I stayed quiet behind the bushes.  The elk were wary but not overly worried until he got too close for their comfort.  They started walking out into the river.  When Bob got closer, they quickly went the rest of the way over.  The leader stood on the highest spot on the far bank and watched us while the others regrouped.  Finally, he turned and headed into the woods on the other side of the river and the rest of herd turned and followed him. 

Our turn around spot included this splendid view of Skookum Falls
 

Totals for the day:

 

6 adult hikers, one infant, and one toddler, no dogs, 8 elk