Information about this hike provided in partnership with
Mountaineers Books.
Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Lower Big Quilcene River
Featured In:
Day Hiking: Olympic Peninsula,
by Craig Romano.
A portion of all book sales from the links above benefits WTA and helps protect and maintain our trails. Starting at an elevation of 1400 feet, the Lower Big Quilcene River Trail climbs a mere 1200 feet in its entire 6.2-mile journey. Besides making for an easy trek, the low elevation is ideal for an early-season hike. But if you wait until early summer, you'll be rewarded with blooming rhododendrons. The trail passes by old camp and shelter sites, testaments to when there was no shorter option to Marmot Pass. A good day-hike objective is Camp Jolley, 5 miles out. But hikers not intent on putting in that many miles can cut their hike in half by opting for Bark Shanty Camp. No matter how far you venture, the Lower Big Quilcene offers one of the best low-country valley hikes in the eastern Olympics. The trail starts high above the river on an old roadbed. Walking is fast and easy on this well-groomed and well-graded path. After a slight descent in the first mile the trail enters a steep-walled canyon. After another mile the trail finally meets up with the roaring river, crossing it on a good bridge. Along the rushing waterway and through beautiful groves of towering old growth, reach Bark Shanty Camp at 2.6 miles, a great place to stare at the rapids or cut some z's under an ancient tree. The trail continues, however, recrossing the river and heading farther up the valley. Just beyond the old wooden bridge is the western terminus of the Notch Pass Trail. Continue through a series of old rapidly recovering clear-cuts , and then at 4 miles enter the forest primeval once more. Keep your boots dry crossing a series of side creeks, and at 5 miles arrive at Camp Jolley. Take a break by bubbly Jolley Creek before happily making your way back to the trailhead.
Driving Directions:
From Quilcene drive US 101 south for 1.5 miles. (From Shelton follow US 101 north for 50.5 miles.) Turn right (west) onto Penny Creek Road. After 1.5 miles bear left onto Big Quilcene River Road (Forest Road 27). Drive 3 miles, coming to a junction. Continue right on FR 27 and after 0.4 mile turn left onto FR 27-080. Follow this narrow dirt road 0.5 mile to the trailhead. Privy available. Recent Trip Reports
Hiked here recently?
Submit a trip report!
There are
15
trip reports for this hike.
See all trip reports for this hike.
Lower Big Quilcene River
— Jan 06, 2012
— Bad Water
Day hike
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
When we got to the bridge over the Big Quil below Bark Shanty Camp we met the guy who has...
When we got to the bridge over the Big Quil below Bark Shanty Camp we met the guy who has contracted to replace the three bridges on this stretch of trail. He is hoping to get the work done in February because it requires a helicopter to deliver the glue-lam stringers and the Forest Service apparently won't allow helicopters in the area between Feb 28 and August 28, but weather will decide. Right now the bridges are compromised but still passable, but at some point (he wasn't sure when) they will be blown up to make way for the new ones, so it would be a good idea to check with the Quilcene ranger station before doing this hike in the near future.
There was a big tangle of recently downed trees across the trail just above Bark Shanty, but the bridge builder had his chain saw at work on them as we were making our way around them, and the way was clear by the time we came back. The WTA crew did a great job replacing the section of washed-out trail above the second crossing of the river. There is just one downed tree between there and Camp Jolley. There was a nice dusting of new snow on the trees but nothing more than that on the trail.
Lower Big Quilcene River
— Oct 14, 2011
— gsbarnes
Day hike
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
Took the kids out to Dosewallips State Park on a day off school, and hiked the Lower Big Quilcene on...
Took the kids out to Dosewallips State Park on a day off school, and hiked the Lower Big Quilcene on a Friday. Nothing too interesting to report: no hazards driving in or on the hike, although we only went a little beyond Bark Shanty, headed a little ways up the Notch Pass Trail, then turned around.
The much-mentioned bridge is fine for hikers (and mountain bikers, if they carry their bikes), but was being worked on by one guy when we were there. He was mostly measuring, not building, so who knows when it will be done. The trail beyond the bridge was washed out (last winter?), but a reroute is there and pretty easy to find.
Lower Big Quilcene River
— Aug 07, 2011
— Cheetarzan
Day hike
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
Early start, one other car in the lot.
Gorgeous weather, excellent trail, very nice area.
Even the road was good.
Wildflowers waning, no...
Early start, one other car in the lot.
Gorgeous weather, excellent trail, very nice area. Even the road was good. Wildflowers waning, no bugs. Didn't see another person until we got to Bark Shanty when two bicycles rolled in. The bridge just beyond was constructed from two large logs. One of the logs has broken so the bridge can no longer support horses. Hikers will be safe if cautious. On the way out, passed three groups of two people, one with three dogs, unleashed 50 yards ahead of their humans. None of these groups had logged in. Overnight
Issues:
Mudholes
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
A quick mid-week getaway, out and back in less than 24 hours. We got to the TH at about 11:30...
A quick mid-week getaway, out and back in less than 24 hours. We got to the TH at about 11:30 Thursday morning and were the only ones in the parking area and the only ones who had signed the register for a couple of days. There is a sign (dated 3/11) that a bridge is washed out ahead, there are also several notations on the sign with updates. I had called the ranger station earlier in the week on the encouragement of a friend who had turned around before said bridge, to ask about conditions. The ranger spoke to me like I was a crazy person so I guess the bridge will be alright for us.
The mosquitoes found us as soon as week got out of the car, but with a light coating of bugspray they were no problem at all. The trail starts at a gentle grade high above the river and at the beginning is practically wide enough for two people to walk abreast (this part of the trail is also open to stock.) There are some muddy spots and a few small stream crossings, but nothing to worry about. I do recommend gaiters, Batman's pants were pretty muddy around the ankles. The first two bridges are in great shape and even have netting over the boards to help with footing. Bark Shanty is the first camp spot you come to, it is a large, very tempting campsite right on the river. If you are hiking with kids this would be a great place to set up camp. We continue on, just past Bark Shanty is the above mentioned bridge. The bridge is posted that it is not passable to stock or motor bikes due to stability concerns. Indeed, the bridge now sits at a bit of an angle and part of it has been blocked off. It felt perfectly safe on foot. The trail just past the bridge gets a bit steep, it has obviously been worked on recently, and I think this part of the trail may be a reroute. After the bridge the trail becomes narrower and a little overgrown. There are spots where Devil's Club is thick over the trail, as well as Salmon/Thimble Berry. A hiking pole comes in handy to push aside the brush. A pole also helps to clear away a multitude of spider webs across the trail. We reached Camp Jolley mid-afternoon. There is only one spot here. I think the one other couple we saw was headed here also, but we came in ahead of them by a few minutes. Sorry folks. The camp is at the bottom of a very steep section of trail and sits right on the river. The site would have been nicer if people before us had not left trash in the fire pit and toilet paper everywhere. Come on people, clean up after yourselves! This was our dog, TimTim's, first overnight trip and he handled it like a champ, although he does tend to hog the entire sleeping bag. On the hike out Friday morning we saw one deer and two single hikers on their way up the trail. Overall, a good, quick overnight. Overnight
Issues:
Blowdowns | Water on trail
Expand report text
Hide report text
Read full report
with photos
July 9, 2011. Myself with a group of 3 hiked the Lower Big Quilcene River Trail #833 to Camp Jolley....
July 9, 2011. Myself with a group of 3 hiked the Lower Big Quilcene River Trail #833 to Camp Jolley. Conditions were dry and sunny. 58 Degrees at the trailhead at 10:15am. Small mountain streams cross the river in a dozen places. There were areas where mountain bike tracks made it muddy. 95% of the trail was extremely dry and it was an all around great place to hike.
Hikers can feel very comfortable crossing the damaged bridge. There was only one severely damaged bridge crossing the Big Quilcene River but it was secure enough to hike accross without any problems. There were a few fallen trees over the trail but very easy to get over. Total hiking time to Camp Jolley was 1 hour 46 minutes from the trail head using a comfortable walking pace. On our hike up the trail we encountered the amazing forest service volunteer group working on restoring the trail. Thank you very much for your hard work! We only encountered one other group of hikers on the way up and two people on mountain bikes. We took a person that had never hiked with a backpack for overnight camping and they thought the trail was extremely easy and a perfect hike! Not many bugs around. We were surprised to see very few bugs. We did use bug spray but it really was not necessary at Camp Jolley. |
Big Quilcene River. Photo by Bob and Alex.
2010, 2011
Map it
|
Document Actions
- Email this page
- Print this
- Share
Forgot your
New user?
