[Kim Brown]

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

[iron]

[puzzlr]

I have to say I wasn't aware of this NRCA. Thanks for the report.

[JimK]

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

[puzzlr]

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

[JimK]

The log was still there 52 years later though without the moss.

Twin Falls Lake

[Brian Curtis]

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.

[Sculpin]

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!

[Schroder]

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.

[contour5]

Epic collaborative effort on this post. Great stuff!

[Kim Brown]

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.

[Brian Curtis]

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."