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Lower Gray Wolf River

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Perfect for a winter leg-stretcher or a spring woodland flower hike, this easy trail will appeal to most hikers, young and old. Through groves of old-growth conifers, over cascading creeks, and hugging the lush banks of the Gray Wolf River, the trail marches up a quiet canyon in the Buckhorn Wilderness. Plenty of good picnic sites, too, can be found along the tumbling, churning river. And there's always an excellent chance of spotting a big critter along the way.

A new beginning and an abrupt ending have changed this trail considerably since the 1990s. From the small parking lot, start downhill on new trail, formerly a logging road. A series of slides forced this reroute. The new trail starts away from the river, but its slope-side route provides some nice views of Maynard Mountain and the portal to the Gray Wolf Canyon.

After 0.5 mile of gentle walking, enter mature forest. The Cat Creek Loop Trail takes off to the left. An alternative route, it drops steeply through an ancient cedar grove, and then follows a portion of the old Gray Wolf Trail to return to the main trail about 0.5 mile farther. It's worth the walk, increasing the sweat factor only slightly.

The main trail leaves the old roadbed, entering a cool old-growth forest of fir and hemlock and accelerating its drop to the river. At 1.5 miles enter the Buckhorn Wilderness, the river growing louder. Finally reach the wild waterway and traverse a sun-kissed bottomland that invites naps and snack breaks.

At 2.5 miles leave the river bottom to climb diagonally up a steep hillside. A few breaks in the trees provide views up to lofty Gray Wolf Ridge and down into the canyon. Dropping back to river level, feel a cool breeze embrace you as the trail heads along the surging waterway. At 3.5 miles, after some of the nicest riverside hiking on this side of the Olympics, the trail once again climbs a steep hillside.

Enjoy good views of the Gray Wolf crashing through a tight canyon gorge. Make your way back to river bottom, and at 4.2 miles call it quits as the trail ends at a narrow gorge that once housed a high bridge. Noted Olympic guidebook writer and legend Robert Wood once observed, "The bridge was built high enough to preclude its destruction from floods."This was probably the only time Mr. Wood wasn't correct-a torrent in the early 1990s washed it away.

Fording the river here is extremely dangerous. If you want to further explore the Gray Wolf Valley, use the Slab Camp Creek Trail. But that's for another time. Right now, sit by the lovely waterway, letting its rapids mesmerize and its resident dippers entertain you.
Driving Directions:

From the west end of the Hood Canal Bridge, drive State Route 104 to its end and veer north onto US 101. Proceed 16 miles and turn left onto Louella Road (just before reaching the Sequim Bay State Park entrance). In 1 mile turn left on Palo Alto road continuing for 6 miles to a junction. Bear right at a junction onto Forest Road 2880. The road descends and crosses the Dungeness River, coming to another junction in 1.7 miles. Turn right on FR 2870, cross the Gray Wolf River, and arrive at the trailhead after 1.8 miles. (Alternatively, from US 101 west of Sequim, turn left/south on Taylor Cutoff Road, turn right on Lost Mountain Road, and then turn left on FR 2870 and drive 5.5 miles to the trailhead.)

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Note: the description and driving directions for this Mountaineers Books entry are copyrighted and can't be changed.

Recent Trip Reports

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There are 75 trip reports for this hike. See all trip reports for this hike.
Lower Gray Wolf River — Apr 22, 2013 — Eifert
Day hike
Features: Wildflowers blooming
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Perfect time for this hike. While 10 people signed in the day before (Sunday), we saw no one. Somewh...
Perfect time for this hike. While 10 people signed in the day before (Sunday), we saw no one. Somewhat muddy but nothing bad, it IS spring, afterall - river amazingly low as the upper watershed is still snowed up completely. Lots of flowers and butterflies. Bleeding heart, trillium, yellow violets, calypso orchids, cottonwood and big-leaf maples in full bloom. Everything brushed out very well - got as far as about .5 miles past the river campgrounds. It was almost hot.
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Lower Gray Wolf River — Apr 15, 2013 — Joe Hendricks
Day hike
Features: Wildflowers blooming
Issues: Mud/Rockslide
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Here's 8 minutes of video highlights from the hike: http://youtu.be/BgtWRvaflQ0 Road is fine. T...
Here's 8 minutes of video highlights from the hike:
http://youtu.be/BgtWRvaflQ0

Road is fine. Trail is in great condition - just some serious muddy stretches at the bottom of the switchbacks after passing the Cat Creek Loop intersection. Only saw 3 other hikers when I was almost back to the trailhead.

I believe others' reports that the up and down adds up to 1900ft! Great exercise for a river trail. After you reach the river, the 'alley of sawed logs' is fun - plenty of tree rings to count if you're into that. The second half has the best river scenes and the gorge at the end is simply beautiful.

I saw trillium, salmonberry blossoms, a lily(avalanche?), asters and something that looked like mother-of-pearl but was too spiky to be that. So Spring is definitely arriving in the Olympics!

At the trail end, I took the steep climber's path up almost to the top of the ridge, but the slick mud stopped me. But it was fun and still offered nice views on the way up.
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Lower Gray Wolf River — Apr 06, 2013 — Mballducci
Overnight
Features: Fall foliage
Issues: Blowdowns | Mudholes | Water on trail
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Knowing the weather was going to be iffy, we decided to go up for the night anyway. The river was be...
Knowing the weather was going to be iffy, we decided to go up for the night anyway. The river was beautiful and we only had to deal with rain that began the middle of Saturday night and into Sunday. Saturday being pretty decent with a few sun breaks made setting up a dry camp a breeze. On the way out you could see the higher elevations and it had actually snowed a bit.

Even though there is only an 800ft elevation difference from start to finish there are many ups and downs so in total you are doing a lot more that 800ft. I'd say at least twice that much and the inclines on the way out are more severe as apposed to being gradual on the way in. Keep all of this in mind if you are packing in 40lbs. of gear.

All in all, definitely worth the trip.

p.s. My dog is in better shape than I am.
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Lower Gray Wolf River — Mar 27, 2013 — nerdhiker
Day hike
Issues: Mud/Rockslide
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Great leg warmer for the upcoming summer hikes. Two other people on trail. Lots of ups and downs. Di...
Great leg warmer for the upcoming summer hikes. Two other people on trail. Lots of ups and downs. Didn't make it to the washed out bridge. Opted to picnic at the second firepit. Very muddy in the first half of the hike, but dry spots make for variety. Road up to trailhead has had some rockslides on road, be careful. Other than that, good road for my Honda to make it up. Minimal potholes, but narrow roads. Wonderful out of the way hike.
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Lower Gray Wolf River — Mar 18, 2013 — Nutmeg
Day hike
Issues: Blowdowns | Clogged drainage | Mudholes | Water on trail
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Official stats: 8.4 miles, 800 feet gain via Nutmeg orienteering: 11.6 miles, 1,900' gain (oops) ...
Official stats: 8.4 miles, 800 feet gain
via Nutmeg orienteering: 11.6 miles, 1,900' gain (oops)

My husband and I hiked this trail for the first time today, our 24th wedding anniversary. It was sunny! The road (Palo Alto to 2880 like going to Dungeness to 2870) to the trailhead was just fine for our Prius. My friend told me the Lost Mt-Taylor Cutoff is pretty potholey. We were going to park at the large TH on the left shortly after crossing the Grey Wolf, but when we pulled in we could not immediately see the trail and opted to continue up the road, so we parked & started from the current TH. Pics of trail are at: http://www.flickr.com/[…]/

Despite obvious and much appreciated drainage work, the trail is muddy in several spots as it follows an overgrown old logging road. In fact, this trail was pretty muddy altogether; watch your step as the heavy clay content makes for some slick spots. In a short way we came to a cutoff to Cat Creek and took it, knowing from our book that it loops back to join the main trail. However, when it intersected with what we thought was the main trail (there’s a sign “Cat Creek” pointing back the way we’d come), we were confused as to whether we should go left or right. It didn’t really seem like we’d looped. We consulted our map, my husband’s GPS, and after much deliberation and dizzying logic, headed confidently in the incorrect direction. Well, that took us through lovely woods and down, down to road 2870 and the first TH. Oops. Back up we headed. Lesson: when Cat Creek intersects a trail, the right way is RIGHT. Shortly after our little jaunt of maybe a mile(?) and 700’ down then back up, we reconnected with Lower Gray Wolf.

It drops down to the river and some nice gravel beaches, then goes back up, up and well away from the gorgeous river (why?), then back down to the river at a lovely campsite where we stopped for lunch. I found a mossy rock with a great view up the river and sat watching the sunlight and water play with each other until I noticed I was shivering. Snow lingered in the moss on the rocks around me, and there was a chill breeze off the river. 45 minute respite over, we headed back up trail, again up and away, far away from the pretty river. The woods are lovely, with moss so thick it encroaches on the trail in spots. Most of the trail is well cleared, with one log to duck under on a washed out area (tread nicely rebuilt here), and a jumble to go over, under, and through a bit farther on. There is one wonky old bridge to cross. It looks a tad treacherous, but just use the center stringer that shows through and it’s easy peasy. Another campsite by the river proved too much for my husband, and I left him there basking in the sun while I continued on.

Another climb up, some lovely woods with a few downed trees easily stepped over, drop back to the river, then as you just start to climb the trail ends abruptly. You can see the washout and part of an old bridge on the other side. There’s some orange flagging on a small cedar to the right, and a social trail going steeply up. I followed it for a ways, but it’s neither safe nor pretty, so I dropped back down to the river for a few moments’ stillness and solitude, then headed back to hubby. I turned a corner to see him at the top of the hill above where he’d stopped. He was laying ½ in the trail, apparently trapped by a clever snare of deep moss and spring sun. Grinning, he said he’d come to find me but was caught in the deep, comfy moss. In a heroic rescue attempt, I too was trapped and we lay there ½-conscious in the sun for about half hour, listening to the river below us and watching lazy clouds drift through a blue, blue sky. Ahhhhhhh.

We finally roused ourselves and headed back, finding our car to be ever so much nearer on the way out without the little detour. However, I recommend Cat Creek because the main trail along the old road is not as pretty as is very muddy. We saw only 3 other hikers this whole, sunny day (though it was a Monday). Lower Gray Wolf is a nice winter or early season hike with enough moss to please anyone, lots of nice woods, and a few (not enough!) gorgeous sections right along the river.
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gray wolf river bob and barb.jpg
Gray Wolf River. Photo by Hikerchick.
WTA worked here!
2012
Location
Gray Wolf River (#834)
Olympics -- East
Olympic National Forest - Hood Canal Ranger District
Statistics
Roundtrip 8.4 miles
Elevation Gain 800 ft
Highest Point 1500 ft
Features
Rivers
Old growth
Wildflowers/Meadows
Established campsites
User info
Good for kids
Northwest Forest Pass required
Guidebooks & Maps
Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula (Romano - Mountaineers Books)
Green Trails Tyler Peak No. 136
Custom Correct Buckhorn Wilderness

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Note: the description and driving directions for this Mountaineers Books entry are copyrighted and can't be changed.

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Red MarkerLower Gray Wolf River
47.9670333333 -123.1274
  • BCRT 2012
  • Trail Work 2012
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