Take A Tour of The Wild Sky Wilderness Proposal

From the small mountain town of Index, the North Fork Skykomish River valley stretches north and east to the crest of the Cascades.  From an elevation of only 600 feet at Index, the terrain rises to over 7000 feet atop Columbia and Kyes peaks. In between are some of the most extensive natural forests in the Cascades, and some of the best remaining reaches of salmon spawning habitat near Puget Sound.  The waters of the North Fork Skykomish have a pleasing blue-green transparency to them, and are home to healthy populations of fish.

The proposed Wild Sky Wilderness would permanently protect more than 106,000 acres of diverse landscapes, including the following.

Lower North Fork Skykomish Valley

The lower 15 or so miles of the North Fork were railroad logged in the 1920s and 30s.  These early operations were far different from the scorched earth, leave-nothing-standing clearcut logging of recent decades.  Only the highest value trees were taken, cut by hand and removed with horses and winches.  These areas were then allowed to regrow on their own.  As a result, a diverse, naturally regenerated forest has come back on its own.  Other than the occasional decaying, moss-covered stump, these forests appear quite natural, and are well on their way to becoming old growth.  There are many miles of these forests along the North Fork Road, and from high vantage points they form a continuous green blanket over the entire lower valley.  Unlike past Wilderness bills which tended to protect high elevation meadows, rocks and ice, most of these lowland forests are included the Wild Sky proposed Wilderness area.

These low elevation forests grow on some of the richest, most productive lands in the entire National Forest system.  All of the best salmon spawning areas are at these lower elevations, surrounded by natural second growth forests.  With millions of acres of heavily logged industrial timberland in western Washington, there is no need for more logging here.  Wilderness designation would end the threat of timber sales, allowing these forests to continue their slow transformation to true old growth, protecting crucial salmon spawning habitat.

Upper North Fork Skykomish Valley

As one moves further up the North Fork Skykomish, the land begins to change.  Rather than the sharp peaks, and fearsome brush and cliffs of Eagle Rock, the terrain opens up bit and the mountains grow gentler.  Long ridges are topped by extensive flower meadows, and large areas of old growth forest cloak much of the valley bottoms and slopes.  This is a friendly, inviting country, slightly drier than areas further west.  There are a number of popular trails, such as those up West Cady Ridge and Scorpion Mountain.  Certain areas lend themselves well to off-trail wandering through open forests and meadows.

Most of the lower elevation forests were purposefully excluded from the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness when it was designated in 1984.  The result is a wilderness boundary that is comprised of all kinds of zig-zags, and strange lines that follow no apparent topographic feature.  But there was method behind the seeming madness.  Timber industry lobbyists with aerial photos drew those lines which, with few exceptions, kept commercially valuable forests well outside the Wilderness.  Nearly two decades later, we may have an opportunity to give these areas the protection they didn't get in 1984.

The North Fork Valley supports significant old growth on slopes north and south of the river and in the side valley of Troublesome Creek.  The upper valley of West Cady Creek has a very interesting and unusual forest.  Relatively open groves of large Douglas firs occur nearly to the 4000-foot level, uncommonly high for the west side of the Cascades.  These forests offer easy wandering, and gradually merge with still higher forests of silver fir and hemlock extending to the Cascade crest.  Further south, old growth forests grow on slopes above the Rapid River and its north fork, and in the valleys of Meadow, Johnson and Kelly creeks.  Connecting ridges above these valleys offer some of the most appealing ridgewalks in the Cascades, with miles of flowers.

Ragged Ridge

Eagle Rock Roadless Area

Nicknamed 'Sky Peaks" by local activists, this is the roadless country inside the Jack's Pass road loop, east and south of the lower North Fork, west of Beckler Valley and north of Highway 2.  It contains some of the most rugged mountain terrain in the Skykomish area, with sharp, jagged Gunn, Merchant and Baring peaks prominently visible from Highway 2.

Only one formal trail enters the area, to scenic and popular Barclay Lake at the foot of the tremendous north wall of Mt. Baring.  The trail to Barclay and the immediate perimeter of the lake itself have been drawn outside of the Wilderness boundary in order to allow large groups to continue to camp in the area. However, an informal, steeper trail winds up from Barclay Lake to scenic Eagle Lake.  Both that trail and Eagle Lake itself lie entirely within the proposed wilderness.

This is a place of many diverse attractions.  On its' southern edge, some of the most impressive old growth forest in the Cascades grows on low, south facing slopes just north of the village of Grotto.  A large area of Alaska cedar forest is found near Eagle Lake, and further north, the valleys of Upper Trout and Howard creeks support extensive virgin forest.  Seldom visited lakes lie at the heads of most valleys, offering outstanding fishing.

The central and northern reaches of the Eagle Rock area are a little visited, mysterious region.  Dense forests can make for slow traveling.  Summits such as Conglomerate Point and Spire Mountain likely see only a few visitors in any year.  Places like Bear Mountain and Upper Bear Creek may go a decade or more without seeing any humans.  If there is a corner of the Cascades which a grizzly bear could call home this is surely it.