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Kim Brown Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 6899 | TRs | Pics
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Jim checking out da treez
Jim and I headed to Beaver Plant and Ashland Lakes withing DNR's Morningstar Natural Resource Conservation Areas - the state's equivalent of wilderness - on Sunday.
The road is a bit rough but I think with care any car can make it; but I drive a truck that sits high, so that might not be the best gauge; a Subaru Outback was in the parking lot, so lower clearance vehicles are OK.
The trail has received a lot of work since we were there 2 years ago, and it never gets really ugly like it did before. The boardwalks are encrusted with beaten down snow-turned-ice so it was kind of a pain in the ass. We shuffled more than walked. I wouldn't say it's a deal-breaker but for folks with little kids. Wait til you're sure the snow is gone before bringing them to Ashland Lakes. Plus you might lose them in the sucking mudholes.
There's not much snow but on the boardwalks. Skunk cabbage is out; salmon berry is just beginning, and huckleberries should be good this year; that is if they don't fry.
A great day; lovely forest. Hands down among the best old growth forests in Washington. Do yourself a favor and step off the trail to check out the forest. We saw some really nice stuff; a beautiful pond, wonderful trees, and neat-o fungus.
Discover Pass required at the trailhead.
Epicormic branches fungus amungus2 Doug-fir, gorgeous snag, hemlock cedar funny cedar Matchstick cladonia detail two trees and fungus
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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iron Member
Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6392 | TRs | Pics Location: southeast kootenays |
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iron
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:52 am
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7220 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:19 am
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I have to say I wasn't aware of this NRCA. Thanks for the report.
Kim Brown wrote: | Natural Resource Conservation Areas - the state's equivalent of wilderness |
Never thought of it that way. But wilderness without the sometimes onerous restrictions for trail building and maintenance.
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 1:10 pm
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I've just started to look through my photos. Here are a few for now. Kim does like to work on her yoga poses.
Kim's Yoga Pose Yoga Pose Fail! Old Growth Forest
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7220 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:23 pm
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I'm reviving an old TR that might be better left alone, but I recently came across a copy of an old newspaper column about Ashland Lakes that I thought was interesting and relevant. I only scanned the parts of the paper with story content. Unfortunately, the Seattle Times pictorial sections aren't in the online archive, AFAIK, so no link.
The text on the intro page is Quote: | It was a day in the mid 1930's when Ernie Wolcott, well-known Pacific Northwest outdoorsman, first saw the beautiful little lake pictured on today's cover and these pages.
Wolcott was in an airplane, flying over a section of the west slope of the Cascade Mountains, northeast of Seattle.
A few miles southeast of Pilchuck Mountain and over the stream which tumbles from the Ashland Lakes into the Pilchuck River, Wolcott looked down and was surprised to see a tiny lake. A waterfall plunged more than 200 feet over a granite ledge into the lake. Just below the lake's outlet, Wolcott could see through the trees and dense undergrowth a second waterfall. with a drop of some 400 feet.
Wolcott could not find the lake on any of his maps. He marked the spot on one, however, promptly named it Twin Falls Lake and found that it is only 36 air miles from the heart of Seattle.
Wolcott's immediate desire was to make his way on foot to the lake and its falls. It was not, however, until 1948 that he made his first attempt. Although the Jake is only a few miles off the Mountain loop Highway, east of Granite Falls, Wolcott found those miles exceedingly rough, and his first tries at brush-whacking his way alone to the lake failed.
Five years ago, Wolcott and four other men finally made it. In 1957, the lake was stocked with trout, and since then, Wolcott has made several trips to Twin Falls lake. including one this year on which he made the photographs on the following pages |
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JimK Member
Joined: 07 Feb 2002 Posts: 5606 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard |
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JimK
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Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:55 pm
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The log was still there 52 years later though without the moss.
Twin Falls Lake
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Brian Curtis Trail Blazer/HiLaker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 1696 | TRs | Pics Location: Silverdale, WA |
Thanks for posting this.
Milt Tanggard, mentioned as a Trail Blazer in the article, is still a Trail Blazer. Though he does live at a different address now.
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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Sculpin Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2015 Posts: 1384 | TRs | Pics
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Sculpin
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Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:09 am
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I read somewhere that the plunge pool/lake at the bottom of the falls could not have been formed by the creek that currently flows in. The theory is that during the ice age, the valleys of the Stilly and the Skagit were blocked by the Puget Sound Lobe of the continental glacier. The water backed up until it overflowed the ridge at this location. So that's pretty neat!
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
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Schroder Member
Joined: 26 Oct 2007 Posts: 6720 | TRs | Pics Location: on the beach |
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Schroder
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Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:44 am
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Also interesting to note is that the trail went from the end of a logging spur directly to the falls. I got there once in 10 minutes via a logging road up Wilson Creek on the Pilchuck River side.
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contour5 Member
Joined: 16 Jul 2003 Posts: 2963 | TRs | Pics
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contour5
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Wed Aug 15, 2018 9:13 pm
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Epic collaborative effort on this post. Great stuff!
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Kim Brown Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 6899 | TRs | Pics
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I bet you're right sculpin. From the looks of that gorgeous valley where the 2nd falls plunge into, there must have been a lot of glacier gouging!
We have the Pilchuck Audubon Society and Signpost's Louise Marshall to thank for saving the area around the lakes and falls from logging. Louise discussed hiking up there from the Mtn Loop up Black Creek. I don't think it was a built trail.
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
"..living on the east side of the Sierra world be ideal - except for harsher winters and the chance of apocalyptic fires burning the whole area."
Bosterson, NWHiker's marketing expert
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Brian Curtis Trail Blazer/HiLaker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 1696 | TRs | Pics Location: Silverdale, WA |
A group of Trail Blazers went in to Twin Falls in 1954:
"Sunday - August 1 - After an early breakfast we left Island at 6:00 A.M. on a bearing of 155 true, we hailed Twin Falls Lake after 2 hours. Another hour to walk down the cliffs, and we were on the lake at 9:00 A.M. We found it barren, its size about 4 acres, surrounded on three sides by cliffs. A waterfall about 200 ft. at the inlet. There was a waterfall of unknown height (guess 150-200 ft.) at the outlet. Water temp. 58 on the surface, bottom 2/3 rock, 1/3 mud. If stocked, not more than 500 R.B. or "cutts". We left the lake at 11:30 and arrived at the island at 2:30. After eating we left the island at 4:00. Passed Pinnacle at 6:00 P.M. Arrived at the car at 10:30 P.M. Flashlights the last hour out. We wuz robbed! Thanks to Paul Butler and his Paul Revere ride with batteries and cables, we arrived at Seattle at 6:00 A.M. Monday. Members on the trip were Joe De Santo, Jack Brandmier, and Charley Yadon."
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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