Читать книгу Afoot and Afield: Portland/Vancouver. A Comprehensive Hiking Guide онлайн

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After 1.9 miles the trail splits, and you go right on a path that winds steadily downhill for 0.2 mile to a good camp beside a ford of Siouxon Creek. This is where you need to break out the wading shoes. The stream is about 30 feet wide and calf- to thigh-deep, depending on the season. The ford isn’t particularly dangerous, but until late summer you can expect it to be chilly.

Pick up the trail above a little gravel bar on the opposite bank and quickly climb away from the water. The trail uses several short switchbacks and a couple of fairly steep traverses to reach the rounded crest of a forested ridge.

This forest is a good example of the succession process that takes place at low elevations of the western Cascades. The high canopy of the forest is made up of tall Douglas firs, while beneath this canopy grow shade-tolerant western hemlocks. If this forest manages to avoid logging or fires for the next couple centuries, the firs will die and the hemlocks will take over as the climax species. But since you don’t have time to wait for this process to take place, pick up your pack and push on northeast up the ridge.