I remember those days of no gates and open access. We entered forestland at the end of Pole Line Rd in Roy and came out by Bear Canyon in Cinebar. That's when the timber companies were pushing for a change in the timber tax system. Remember "Private forests do the public good" campaign? Then all those thousands of acres in Pierce County were subdivided by Weyerhaeuser and Uniland Reality then turned into housing plots. Tanawax Creek was my playground. Fishing and crawdad hunting in the summer, trapping and splitting firewood in the winter. Sure glad Weyerhaeuser saved millions in tax dollars with all those sections of timberlands; made a lot of people rich when it got developed, so I guess it was worth it.
I got to see some old stomping ground and relive a few hunting stories; the hunting sucked but the hills still looked like home. Too bad I couldn't finish the season out by duck hunting Elbow Lake; They sold all that ground too.
I do wish I could have taken my Grandkids up there some day to pick apples and plumbs from one of the old homesteads north of the Nisqually River, but that's probably all dozed over too now.
If you're rich enough, access is never a problem.
