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Bloom Lake

At 0.3 mile the path meets and follows a long-abandoned logging skid road, which now serves as a wide trail. Although the surrounding woods contain a few western hemlocks and Douglas firs, deciduous trees dominate, giving this area a pleasant open feeling, especially in winter and early spring. At 0.8 mile, the trail levels off for 0.1 mile and then comes to a junction marked with a small brown plastic post.

The old road goes straight here (a possible return route), but you turn right on a winding trail that goes downhill under the shade of large vine maples. After 0.25 mile you reach the outlet of shallow, 4-acre Bloom Lake. Although not wildly scenic, this pond makes a very pleasant lunch spot, surrounded as it is by white-barked alders and marshy areas that support a profusion of skunk cabbage, which blooms in March and April. The lake is popular with anglers, looking to snag some of the water’s small cutthroat trout. Wildlife enthusiasts will enjoy looking at the old beaver dam on the outlet creek just below the lake.