Skokomish River

This is a great ride in a beautiful old growth forest. The Skokomish River valley is an unspoiled low elevation rain forest. The first approx. 5 miles of this ride are smooth and fast. Each mile after this is more and more technical and overgrown, until the trail deteriorates and you end up pushing way too much after the 8 mile marker.

There are a couple spur trails along the way which go off to the right which allow bail-outs to the nearby FS road; the easiest one is the one at about 5 miles in.

This is a great trail to take athletic beginners or advanced beginners -- sure you drop into the valley and eventually have to climb out but once on the valley floor the trail is smooth and "easy" for the first 3 miles -- after that it gets progressively harder. Your beginner can let you know when it's too hard and time to turn around.

Even though the final elevation gain is only 600 feet or so, with all the combined ups and downs it's closer to 2,000 feet when all is said and done.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation-nu/trails/LowerSouthForkSkokomish.pdf