Dark Meadows — Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008

South Cascades > Dark Divide

Drive about 24 miles from Randle south on FR 23 to the trailhead on the right. Immediately cross a stream about mid-calf deep this year. About 1.4 miles of gentle upstream on a wide trail through an attractive, moderately-dense forest along a creek. The trail then turns steeply uphill and is rutted badly by motorcycle traffic - a tough slog, and to top it off the forest is dark, full of dry brush, and seemingly devoid of life. At around 3 miles, the hike opens up somewhat onto a more open flank of the ridge - be careful! There's a fork in the trail and the leftmost fork (to Dark Meadow), which is the one you want, is extremely easy to miss - it occurs at a sharp right-hand corner on the trail. It's unsigned. The right fork climbs the open flank a little and then plunges you back into dark, rutted, steep uphill slogging - if you find this happening to you retrace your steps because you missed the turnoff. That's what happened to us! There are tons of huckleberries along this open flank but they're nowhere near ripe yet. Wild strawberries, too, but they're past season. Minimal bugs, perfect cool temperatures, not another hiker on the trail. Too bad we missed the meadow!