Val-Di-Ree: Hike to First Divide up Skokomish River

After my hike two weeks ago, I wanted to go further up the Skokomish River. I took Thursday off and Guy and I drove to the trailhead at Staircase on Wednesday evening. This time I was able to get the Park Service permit at the trailhead, so I felt more legitimate.

We left home about 4 pm and got to the trailhead about 6 pm. For dinner we ate a sandwich we'd bought at Safeway in Belfair. We started hiking at 7:00 and kept a good pace so we could get to Big Log Camp before dark, about 5 miles. As it was, we arrived after 9 pm and it was pretty dark down by the river under the big trees. We groped around until we found the bear wire. We hung the food up on the bear wire, and Guy got firewood and made a fire.

In the morning, it took Guy a while to get moving. I was pretty stiff from our previous evening's hike. We got going about 10 am and started up the river. We were not moving too fast, and took a lot of rest breaks. We finally arrived at Nine Stream camp about 1 pm. We set our packs down and started for First Divide.

The trail past Nine Stream gets very steep and it wasn't long before Guy decided to go back to camp. He had a tender foot and didn't want to push it. I continued on and made it to First Divide at about 4:30. I spent a few minutes there and started back down. I caught up with Guy and we hiked back to Nine Stream Camp, arriving just after 6 pm.

We made dinner, Guy got firewood and made a nice fire. We both slept well because we were so tired. The weather was good so we slept under the stars. In the morning we broke camp and started back to the trailhead. It seemed to take forever because we were both pretty bushed. Arrived at the trailhead about 4 pm. Home by 6.