Last September, I found the access to Wassen Lake an easy stroll downhill from the logging road to the east. The lake is full of stumps and downed logs, not really suitable for a swim, but there is plenty of wildlife and total silence.
I went cross country (a better term than bushwhack) around the lake, and a few hundred yards down Wassen Creek, which originates to the west of the 5 acre lake. It is as thick an undergrowth as I've ever tried to scamper through, and I had scratches to prove it. Definitely not for shorts or short sleeves.
I understand that the way to reach the Devil's Staircase is from a logging road to the northeast. It is extremely difficult to follow the creekbed from the lake. Can someone post directions to the start of the trailhead?
Now that a new environment friendly administration is about to assume power in Washington, I hope that this beautiful, rare remnant of undisturbed wilderness will be preserved forever.
May it be so!
— Jan Stafl
