Forum Index > Trip Reports > Olympics Dry Creek From the North, underwater railroad
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ranger rock
One of the boys



Joined: 14 Dec 2011
Posts: 2550 | TRs | Pics
ranger rock
One of the boys
PostThu Jan 05, 2012 10:32 pm 
dog-near-big-stump-desaturated
dog-near-big-stump-desaturated
Old logging road or railroad UNDER Lake Cushman
Old logging road or rail line under the lake
Old logging road or rail line under the lake
Somebody lost a stove
Somebody lost a stove
rainbow-small
rainbow-small
eagle
eagle
dock-with-no-lake-
dock-with-no-lake-
incomplete-bridge
incomplete-bridge
Was not sure if I would turn around at Dry Creek or go all the way to the saddle. When I got to "Dry Creek" the choice was easy to make. The creek was flowing too fast and too deep to cross so I had lunch there and turned around. Unfortunately I think I dropped my SPOT messenger in the damn creek when I was shaking out my rain jacket.
I don't like outdoor gear that floats, I like gear that sinks when you drop it in a river. I spent quite a bit of time looking for it in the very small area I lost it in. The only logical conclusion seems to be that it fell out of my rain coat when I shook it out near the river. I guess it did not like it's river ride.. the message it was sending when I lost it never got sent.. This is the first time I have been afraid to cross "dry creek", it's the highest I've ever seen it. Some of the WTA trail work from a year or so back has fallen apart.. I hope they get back out there and build a bridge over "Dry Creek" someday On the way back I cut down to the "beach" and wandered among the stumps. I found an old logging road underneath Lake Cushman. All the high and dry docks are kind of funny. Now that they seem to have permanently lowered the lake level some of the stumps will rot. Moss is starting to cover the ground. Now it the time to get out there and photograph those stumps. I don't know why I never thought to explore the stumps before.. interesting stuff.. stumps growing out of their nurse logs! Stumps don't rot underwater but when they are exposed to the air they will rot. I found someones rusty old campstove where they had left it on a stump. I saw a bald eagle on my drive in I wonder if my SPOT messenger made it back down "dry creek" and to Lake Cushman before I did? I got new rain gear and it's so much better. I stayed dry for a change. I wonder how long my old rain gear had been bad. I had just assumed I was getting soaked because I was out all day.. but then I went for a short walk around town yesterday and got soaked, it was only then that I realized my rain gear was shot. Wow new rain gear is nice but I'm disappointed that my old gear only lasted two years.. especially when I consider that I only hiked 15 times last year. I"m going to send my delaminated rain jacket back to Marmot.. but the pants did not delaminate so I don't think I can get a new pair of those from Marmot. Loving my new rain gear anyway.. had to use the phone at stair case to call my spouse to say I was safe since my SPOT was lost.. Luckily no one came marching out of the rangers office demanding to know if I had picked a mushroom
track-and-elevation
track-and-elevation
causeway-with-fresh-repairs
causeway-with-fresh-repairs
Newly repaired causeway bridge
rainbow-small
rainbow-small
Rainbow I saw while driving to the trail
maybe-liv3erwort
maybe-liv3erwort
A liver wort I think
dry-creek-curvey-trail
dry-creek-curvey-trail
hypogymnia-spp
hypogymnia-spp
Hypogymnia spp lichen
stump-on-nurse-log-no-mark
stump-on-nurse-log-no-mark
Stump "growing" out of nurse log
fairy-vomit-lichen-no-moss
fairy-vomit-lichen-no-moss
Fairy vomit lichen
incomplete-bridge
incomplete-bridge
incomplete bridge work by WTA This is where the trail crosses "Dry Creek" I turned around here.. I also lost my SPOT messenger here

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BC22
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Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 199 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
BC22
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PostFri Jan 06, 2012 1:31 am 
How far back does that trail go? Can you get to any peaks that way? Ive always wanted to do Lightning Peak.

Smile when the mountain's steepest
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ranger rock
One of the boys



Joined: 14 Dec 2011
Posts: 2550 | TRs | Pics
ranger rock
One of the boys
PostFri Jan 06, 2012 10:33 am 
Brennan22 wrote:
How far back does that trail go? Can you get to any peaks that way? Ive always wanted to do Lightning Peak.
You can get to the top of Dry Mountain from the top of the trail. This trail used to go all the way to Camp Comfort on the South Fork of the Skokomish and was part of the Shady Lane nature trail but it was all destoryed by logging. Now the trail ends on a logging road well above the South Fork Skokomish. I think the Copper Creek trail is the access point for lightning peak. I think it is flagged too. There are more pictures on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/6pn66tp

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Elvis
Shuffl'n



Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 1804 | TRs | Pics
Location: del Boca Vista
Elvis
Shuffl'n
PostFri Jan 06, 2012 10:03 pm 
Bummer about losing your Spot! If it was turned on, wouldn't it be (or have been) sending a signal? It'd be a nice ending if you went online, figured out it's exact location and then went to find it. Just pretend it's a hiker. biggrin.gif Losing gear sucks. Losing new and expensive gear really sucks. Hopefully it finds its way back to you one way or the other. ~E

"Ill habits gather unseen degrees, as brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas." ~John Dryden My Trip List
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ranger rock
One of the boys



Joined: 14 Dec 2011
Posts: 2550 | TRs | Pics
ranger rock
One of the boys
PostFri Jan 06, 2012 10:17 pm 
Elvis wrote:
Bummer about losing your Spot! If it was turned on, wouldn't it be (or have been) sending a signal? It'd be a nice ending if you went online, figured out it's exact location and then went to find it. Just pretend it's a hiker. biggrin.gif Losing gear sucks. Losing new and expensive gear really sucks. Hopefully it finds its way back to you one way or the other. ~E
It's ok I find way more stuff than I lose. This is only the third thing I have lost hiking, but it's the most expensive thing I've lost. My spouse has become dependent on my SPOT so I will have to replace it. I was sending a check in message right when I must have dropped it in the river; the message never got sent. So even if I had paid for tracking and had the tracking turned on, I don't think it would have helped. Where ever it went, it lost it's signal. I think it's either caught behind a rock or snag in dry creek or it's in Lake Cushman. Maybe someone will find it dead on the shore of Lake Cushman someday.

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Phil
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Joined: 02 Jul 2003
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Location: Shoreline, WA
Phil
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PostSun Jan 08, 2012 8:27 pm 
ranger rock wrote:
Old logging road or rail line under the lake
Old logging road or rail line under the lake
Never been a pic like this here I bet. I love it.

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Dane
Other



Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 2466 | TRs | Pics
Location: Seattle
Dane
Other
PostMon Jan 09, 2012 12:40 am 
Yeah bummer about the spot frown.gif some really nice shots of a unique hike though...thanks for sharing!

Without judgement what would we do? We would be forced to look at ourselves... -Death
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RodF
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Joined: 01 Sep 2007
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Location: Sequim WA
RodF
Member
PostMon Jan 09, 2012 7:26 am 
Tacoma Power's press release says the lake has been lowered 50 feet only temporarily, to repair a leaking embankment near the dam spillway. With lake levels nearly as low as they were before the Cushman Dam was built and the reservoir raised in 1926, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see most of the original lake bed. The 1923 Olympic National Forest map shows Lake Cushman was originally about half the size of the reservoir. Mount Rose trailhead was at the very upper end of the lake, and Dry Creek entered the valley 2 miles above the lake. This map does show the Phoenix Logging Co. railway line crossing the valley above the lake, beneath what would soon become the reservoir, and ran along the south and west side of the valley up past Dry Creek to Lincoln Creek.
Lake Cushman 1923
Lake Cushman 1923
One might find more detailed Metzker maps in the Mason County museum?

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!



Joined: 27 Mar 2003
Posts: 16874 | TRs | Pics
Slugman
It’s a Slugfest!
PostMon Jan 09, 2012 11:37 am 
That's on my list for the time before the summer backpacking begins. Thanks for the report and pictures, very nice. up.gif

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