Lower Big Quilcene River

The Big Quilcene River trail is a great starter day hike.  It's actually pretty long and would be a perfect over night trail.  There's even a really nice place to camp.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We actually got up early and got our stuff together and we were out the door before we knew it.  We're getting good at this.  The weather forecast said a 10% chance of rain, which I've learned from 10 years living in the Pacific Northwest, that means it's going to rain.  We brought our rain gear.  And a dang good thing.  It rained the entire time!

Here's what it looked like as we were approaching the trailhead:

Rain and Fog approaching the Trail Head

Once we arrived at the trail head we got into our rain gear and got our packs on and hit the trail around 9am.  There was only one other car in the parking lot.  Clearly there weren't many people who wanted to be out in that yuck.  There was a privy available and a trail registry which I was excited to sign.

Trail Head with a missing person sign attached to it *yikes*

Big Quilcene River Trail Registry

The trail was very well maintained.  It was also very easy the incline was gradual and the views were outstanding. From the very beginning we were encountering little waterfalls.

Snow Run Off

Then I saw this thing.  I'm not sure what it is, but it's kind of odd looking, especially with all the moss growing on it.

Moss covered Tree?

The trail started out wide but narrowed real quick.  It reminded me of pictures I've seen of the AT.  It's my dreaming of the AT that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other when I'm on these hikes.

Trail Narrowing

As we continued on we came up on this interesting little spot.  It was a little bit off the trail and sort of back in the brush a little bit.  I couldn't get a good picture.  I don't dare bring my DSLR camera on these hikes but my point and shoot usually does pretty good.  Not on this one.  But I wanted you to get the idea of what it looked like.  It was so pretty.

Waterfall in a little "cove"

The rain was really starting to come down and my camera case was getting soak so I was concerned that it might get damaged.  I was sad to do it, but decided it was time for it to go into my pack to hopefully give it a little extra protection.  Speaking of my pack, it was also at this time I realized that my pack really isn't all that "water resistant".  Everything was soaked in there.  It was a little frustrating, but there wasn't anything that was going to be ruined by the rain and now we know that if we intentionally go out in the rain we have to have different packs.  Good to know.  I also dug out my jungle hat and put it on.  I didn't really want to wear my hood but my head was getting soaked and I needed something.  And finally, I got my phone set up so I could use it to take pictures.  I managed to acquire what I thought was going to be a perfect case for my phone for this purpose, but it didn't work so well.  It was difficult to turn on and difficult to take pictures with.  Anyway, the next few pictures are from my phone.

There were 3 bridges that we crossed.  They were all brand new and still had the fresh cut pine smell.  It was very cool.

First Bridge

This is what the second bridge crossed:

I think this is my favorite picture from this hike.  I love that you can see the water running down from way back there.

Second Bridge

Here I am with my jungle hat on soaking wet!

Ugh!

This is a shot taken from the camp site, the river runs right up to it.  In fact, one of the spots is only a few feet away from the river.  THAT is the spot I want to camp in.

Bark Shanty Shelter (no shelter, just a camping area)

We only hiked out a little bit passed this before we turned around.  Leonard wasn't feeling well and my right foot was aching almost from the very beginning.  I'm going to have to have my foot looked at again.  I thought that after having 2 weeks off it would do just fine, but it wasn't fine at all.  It was this really intense burning feeling on the bottom, almost like the feeling you get when your shoes are laced too tight combined with a bruising feeling and the pain shot down my 2 toes after the big toe.  It was really uncomfortable.

I didn't take a signature photo this time because we didn't make it to our goal.  We made it about 3 miles in before we had to turn back.  I'm hoping that we'll have another opportunity to do this trail.  It was a beautiful hike and an amazing camping area.

Trip Stats:

Driving: 1 hour each way

Hiking: 3 hours 

Hiking Distance: 6 miles

Rating: Easy

Elevation Gain: 700 feet

Pass Required: NW Forrest Pass