Staircase Rapids Loop

I drove out to Staircase at Olympic National Park to hike the Staircase Rapid Trail (a 2 mile loop trail) and hike part way up the North Fork of the Skokomish River. Even though I checked that the roads and trail were open the night before, I found this down tree blocking the road. I drove back about 100 feet to a pull out and decided to hike up from where I parked. There was no one in the Staircase area of the park while I was there. I decided to just do the Staircase Loop and not risk trees falling down further up the North Fork of the Skokomish Trail.

I decided to do the loop clockwise. View upstream of the North Fork of the Skokomish river from the bridge on the road.

View downstream from the bridge

Beautiful forest walk, lots of mossy trees,

and some fall color.

A big cedar

some of the trees along the trail

Snow on nearby peaks

view of the Skokomish River from a side trail

Lots of ferns, moss and running water along the side of the trail.

Skokomish River from another side trail

more trees along the trail and river views

zoom

Enjoying the forest, moss and large boulders

Suspension view over the Skokomish River

view across the river to the east

View downstream  from the suspension bridge

View upstream from the suspension bridge, including a rainbow

View of the suspension bridge from downstream

More lovely trees

This log bridge didn't make it all the way across the creek

Lots of water beside the trail and

same water on the trail.

Beautiful tree beside the creek

Log bridge over Slate Creek

view downstream along Slate Creek

Something appears to be nibbling on the bridge (LOL)

View of the log bridge from a bit downstream