Went for a quick hike in Capitol State Forest en route to the coast this past weekend. We wanted to do around 10 miles, but encountered some difficulties with finding a good starting point, so ended up just around 7 miles. We ended up using the map to direct to the peak and then when we saw a nice trail crossing we just pulled over on the road out of the way and started hiking along.

The main thing to report with these trails is that the seem to be quite popular for ATVs & dirt bikes. I was partially annoyed with having to step off the trail occasionally, and partially annoyed with how muddy the trail was from the heavy amount of tire use, but man oh man did that look like fun! So ultimately I just resolved to go back out sometime and try out the ATVs myself.

All in all was a nice day out. Forecast called for rain but it ended up being nice and sunny for the whole day!

Ended the day with some beers at breweries in Aberdeen and a walk along the beach by Westport. Nice weekend :)

We never made it to the peak but did the wedekind- green line tie- green line loop from the fall creek trail head.  The trail is in great condition and FOCF has kept all of the blow downs cut.  There are great views from the trail near the intersection with green line tie…. Rainier, Helen, and Adams all are in sight on a clear day.  The trails are all mostly nice and shaded with plenty of small waterfalls and a few treats along the way.  We clocked the loop at 9.6 miles and took advantage of the pit toilets at the parking lot.  If you want to continue on to the peak there is a trail off of green line that is signed for 2.1 miles one way.

09mar2022 WED ~08:15 -to- ~12:30, i was in Capitol State Forest:
1) to hike Larch Mountain and Capitol Peak
2) test my "comfort" driving the C-Line (East end to West end; Distance: ~17.4 miles)

My hike route was:
(P) > C-4000 > C-4400 > (A) > C-4400 > (F) > C-4400 > Capitol Peak Trail > Capitol Peak > C-4300 > (P)

Stats: (per Alltrails) Distance: 6.3 mile / Elevation Gain: 1,006 ft / Moving Time: 2:35
Yes, i was spending too much time .. enjoying the views, and also did some Trash-collection at the end of my hike .. 😚

The C_xxxx upaved Roads and the Trails were generally in good walking condition, some wet spots, stretches - but all passable with care. Only encountered a patch of snow at the SW area of Capitol Peak - passable with care.

During my ~4 hours in the Forest, i saw 4x Light Trucks, 1 large Truck (it was ferrying a full-load of gravels), 2x people shooting at Firing Range, and a Logging Truck (with a full-load of logs), it was ~100 ft ahead of me as we both were exiting the "Entrance to C-Line" <off-Hwy-8> .. 😅 And i saw no other person - hiker, or MTB.

At the Larch Mountain "false" summit, i was un-successful in locating the USGS Summit Benchmark (as mentioned in summitpost.org writeup) .. 😞

My drive route was:
(IN): Sherman Vally Rd SW > C-Line > C-4000 > (P)
(OUT): (P) > C-4000 > (Wedekind picnic area) C-Line > West Entrance C-Line
According to the WADNR (Capitol State Forest) map, the C-Line is a "Primary Forest Road" - which is "Unpaved". And i noticed that the Road Width seems to vary between (Single Lane -and- One-&-Half Lane), with (very helpful) occasional "Turnouts". Please note that the Road "Shoulder" may be a "drop" of a few inches in to loose gravel, dirt, mud, or the "abyss" .. 😅 so please be very careful, keep within the recommended Forest Speed Limit .. and hope for the best (e.g. encounter Safe Drivers) during the drive.There were some potholes, some down (small) trees, branches or leaves on some stretches of C-Line - all passable, seems that the Forest Rangers or some nice people cleared the way through the latter "obstacles" - thank you!

Be Safe! Happy Trails Everyone! 😃

Wet today but all roads and trails cleared of major debris. Snow and ice in the trees that blow down in the wind. The cell towers are full of falling ice. Trails free of snow, slightly muddy. Very foggy at the top but intermittent views.

Nice quick hike (a few hundred feet elevation gain) after the closed gate.  It’s a bit of a drive up the logging roads but it’s very close to Olympia.

Pro tip: when you get to the summit with all the radio towers, keep going over the top to the East.  There’s a clear cut section with better views a little below the summit.