[Jamin Smitchger]

Lake Stickney has been on my list for about 4 years or so. It is located about 1.5 miles northwest of Mount Stickney at an elevation of about 3400 feet. I chose this hike because the chance of rain was forecasted to be 50% on Thursday and 70% on Friday, and I figured it would be pretty easy. Although the lake is located only about 4 tenths of a mile off a road, the 4 miles of road leading to the lake have deteriorated to the point where the road is not passable to passenger cars. Large mud puddles up to 21 inches deep are encountered within the first half mile. There were signs that vehicles had traveled up to 2800 feet or so, but they were probably jeeps with a large amount of clearance. There are many washouts. Due to car troubles, I was forced to ride my bike up 12 miles of the Sultan Basin Road until I reached the logging road up Olney Creek. I then ascended the logging road until I reached the second switchback at about 3500 feet. This switchback is shown better on terraserver than on the topographic map. After taking a compass bearing, I headed off through class 2 type brush in an old logging slash until I hit the ridge. After going around some cliffs, I struck an old trail which brought me to the lake. There is a network of trails in the area, but some lead only to swampy meadows. The lake is pretty and has some rocky islands in the middle and a few cliffs around it. It is definitely not a swamp, but the the water is not very clear and visibility is only about 4 feet. There are brook trout in the lake which never seemed to run over ten inches. They are fat though, and I caught four of them. I started fishing at about five and fished until night. I did not catch any in the morning. The water was sort of cold so that could be one reason why the fishing was pretty slow. While I was there, I observed a ten inch trout darting in and out of the outlet stream. This fish was only in about 6 inches of water. Was it spawning or what? I have never seen behavior like this. Any clues? On the way out, I decided to traverse a bit further north in order to ensure that I would hit the road. I encountered class 3.5 type lowland brush and could barely even see where I was going. I finally got out in about an hour after being soaked by wet brush (it poured all night). The lake does have a lot of trash scattered around, including beer cans, aluminum foil (in fire pits), and other miscellaneous items. Most of the trash looks old, and it appears like the deterioration of the road has kept most of the trashy people out. Brush has a way of filtering out people like that. It required about 4-5 hours or so to reach the lake from the Sultan basin road. I had just ridden 12 miles (1600 vertical feet) with an overnight pack, and I was still pretty exhausted from climbing K9 peak with my brother. These factors probably did affect the time.

[Scrooge]

You're too modest, JS. You don't even mention having to cross the eighty-odd trenches that DNR has dug across the road between the first switchback and your Lake Stickney turnoff. ... Scrooge's pet peeve department ... David

[Jamin Smitchger]

The trenches were not really too bad. They do protect the solitude.

[Backpacker Joe]

Nice report JS. Why again did you have to ride your bike up the Sultan Basin road? Did you turn right at Olney pass and not go over the Spada damn? Im not being judgemental here, but did you pick up any of that trash? That sounds like a good candidate for a trash recovery hike.

[Jamin Smitchger]

My car wasn't working so I took the bus to sultan from Monroe and rode up the sultan basin road. No I did not pick up any trash, but I did not leave any either (except fish guts under a rock). There is not tons of garbage at the lake, but there is very noticeable amounts.

[Backpacker Joe]

I have four wheeled in that area dozens of times. Most of the trails are now closed so I haven't been up there in a while, but man riding your bike up that road. There are some major hills to climb on your way to Olney pass. I give you credit. So did you not find any fishermen's trail leading from the logging road to the lake? If not I'm surprised to hear about all the trash.

[Jamin Smitchger]

The fisherman's trail started in the woods on the other side of the logging slash. It was overgrown in many places and wasn't too much help. There is no trail across the overgrown logging slash, but it really is not very far through the brush if you follow the correct route. There was probably a trail to the lake before it was logged.

[Brian Curtis]

[William Vesperson]

I would rather not see areas like this made innaccessible. I took my dad here when he was elderly, and my kids when they were young. The fishing was great. I have heard that eastern brook can sustain a population in lakes like this, they do spawn in the feeder streams. The trail starts just as you enter a stand of trees at the end of the large clearcut where the road levels out and is on a right hand side turnout. There may be a few flourescent flags left. There is a large population of black bear in this area. I haven't been back to the area since I moved to the Kitsap peninsula six years ago.

[Allison]

[Jamin Smitchger]

Class 1 A little bit of brush, but it is easy to go through with a minimum of resistance Class 2 A bit of brush in the way and travel begins to be retarded by growth. Class 2 does not have serious amounts of devils club or salmonberry, but may have relatively average amounts of blueberry bushes. Class 3 Visibility begins to be impaired by the growth of plants such as slide alder, devils club, young firs, etc. No machete is needed, but gloves may be useful to avoid thorns. Class 4 It is almost impossible to see where you are going. You are stumbling around in devils club, nearly impenetrable slide alder, and extremely thorny salmonberry. You rarely ever see the ground. Travel is limited to 400 feet per hour. A machete is not completely necessary, but it is useful. If you are not wearing thick protective clothing, you will be pulling thorns out of your skin for the next 4 years. Class 5 Because you can never see the ground, you never know just how close you are to falling over a cliff. You begin to bleed. A machete is essential to hack your way out of the mess you have gotten your stupid self into. You trip and stumble frequently and accidentally sprain your ankle. You do not see the holes you step into or cliffs you fall over. Generally the only way to stop yourself after falling over a cliff is to grab onto the nearest stalk of devils club Class five is often similar to class 4 but it is on an angle of about 40 degrees.

[Brian Curtis]

I've let this pass a couple times, but I can't do it any more. I don't care how much brush there is or where you are, you should never use a machete while hiking.

[Smokey Bear]

I last hiked to Lake Stickney in summer 2006. The logging road levels out and there is a turnout on the right, at the edge of a large clearcut. You can't see the trail from the road, and several large trees have fallen over the start of the trail. Bushwack for only 100 yards tops and you are on a beautiful trail. Watched a medium-sized black bear for 15-minutes near the lake. Bear was gorging on blueberries that are everywhere around the lake. Fishing was terrible, I've had better luck in previous trips to the lake. There is a lot of garbage there, including a two-person rubber raft and paddles. Has anyone been to the old cabin site at the lake????

[Backpacker Joe]

Welcome to the site Ed. Where did you park your car on that trip?

[Smokey Bear]

Thanks for the welcome Joe I went with a friend in a nice new Chevy pickup. We took the logging road off the Sultan Basin Road and my friend drove right through all the brush and up to the first switchback, where the road is all washed and dug out. . . someone tried to build another route through there, passable maybe with a serious jeep or a quad. We parked there and overnighted at the lake. About 6 years ago we used to drive right to the trailhead, over all the ditches.