This was not an easy trailhead to find in spite of having search4solitude's pretty good directions with me. It is definitely more complicated than implied by the straightforward directions in the Hike Description. Not all of the roads out here are well-signed and sometimes the sign that does exist is not in the most visible place--easy to miss some of them. After trying what seemed like every possible combination of wrong turns on wrong roads, I consulted a reader board at Brown Creek Campground (on my second unintended visit to the campground) and found a good map and directions posted on it. I took pictures of those and they are included in this report to hopefully prevent others from wasting the amount of time I did. Note: If you get to Brown Creek Campground, you missed a turn. Don't bother trying any of the roads around the campground.
So, later than planned start on the trail, but I was still only the second car at the trailhead at 10:15 am. This trail is rocky and rooty in many sections, but is easy to follow. There are several very large downed trees across the trail. Most of them are easy enough to crouch under (all of them I thought were to big and/or inconveniently placed on steep slopes to make going over a viable option). The first one, which is quite close to the trailhead, is the most difficult. The clearance is low and it involves a fair degree of intimacy with the dirt to get past it.
This trail is a good workout. It is up to a saddle, then down to the lake and then up/down again on your return. While you will hear the creek from time to time, it doesn't particularly follow the creek. The "waterfall" isn't much more than a trickle right now and there are no grand views or panoramas--though from the top the view back down the slope you just climbed is fairly impressive. The forest is the draw here and the size of some of the old growth trees is amazing. There were some wildflowers, including the first bear grass I've seen this season, lots of birdsong, and solitude. I didn't see my first fellow hiker until I arrived at the lake.
Satsop Lake is pretty, tranquil, and relaxing, but it is hardly breathtaking. It does look like it would be a good place for a swim on a warm day, but I didn't indulge. I followed the trail beyond it and in a fairly short distance (less than 1/2 mile) it came out to another forest service road and trailhead where a family with fishing rods was just arriving. Kind of deflating in a way to know that others can simply drive up to a lake that you just hiked up and over a saddle to reach, and must return that way!
The hike out contained my adrenaline rush for the day. After leaving the lake and the very few people who I saw there, I re-entered the quiet and dark forest to hike back up to the saddle. Perhaps 30 minutes in and about 1/4 mile before the waterfall I was shaken from my thoughts by the sound of an animal loudly exhaling and the rustle of alder and huckleberry bushes and the snapping of twigs. I looked perhaps 15 yards upslope from the trail in time to see a large mound of black fur arcing out of the alders followed by large back paws as the bear leapt over a downed tree, fortunately heading up slope and away from me. He stopped about 20 yards higher up the slope and turned around and looked at me. At that point, I could not tell if he was sitting or standing as only his head was visible above the bushes. It was a very large head and he was clearly a very large bear.
I know what you're thinking -- in the moment, everyone's bear seems larger than it probably is. Kind of like the "one that got away" that fishermen always talk about. Fair enough. But, I've seen my fair share of bears and this one was big. I was kind of frozen in place for a moment and I tried not to make eye contact (all the while wondering, is it bears or mountain lions you're not supposed to stare at? Which one do you try to stare down?). Somehow we seemed to reach a simultaneous agreement to move on in opposite directions. I moved farther up the trail and he moved diagonally up the slope in the opposite direction. It was all kind of cool when it was over, but it was the closest "surprise" encounter I've had with a bear.
I do recommend this hike. But, don't do it for the creek, don't do it for the waterfall, and don't do it for the lake. Do it for the forest, the spectacular large old growth trees; do it for the solitude; do it for the workout; and perhaps to be startled by a ginormous black bear!
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