Great Old Growth

Sometimes it's great to just take a picture. I saw this tree while up on Martin Creek with Cathy McDonald, a freelance journalist for the Seattle Times. I didn't have time to get the right angle, so I went back the next week. Now I have the angle, but need blue skies. That will be another trip.

BTW: Check out Cathy's article on the hike: Northwest Weekend article

The New Pratt Trail

The new Pratt Valley trail, which will connect from the Wilderness Gateway Bridge at the Middle Fork Trailhead, is going in. The WTA has sign ups to help if you would like to contribute to this work:

http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties

The Road is Really Open (ignore the signs)

It really puzzles me why these two signs are on the Middle Fork Road because it is open for 12.5 miles (to the Taylor River Trail, the road to Dingford is gated). Here is my theory:

Yellow Sign: This is the county and is referring to the upper road that is washed out. The lower road is actually the Lake Dorothy Road.

White Sign: The distance refers to the distance to the gate at the USFS boundary that was put there when they were doing work on the Taylor River bridge (that gate is most definitely open). My guess is that this sign was put up by DNR (they own the land at Mailbox Peak) and either just haven't taken it down or would like to think the road is closed (so that all of Washington will only use the Mt. Si trail).