The weather in Sequim was overcast and gray but when we reached the trailhead the skies were blue and the temp was 55 deg. The 0.7 mile hike up Tull Canyon was icy and snowy in patches, enough that poles were necessary but boot traction devices were not. We found the plane crash easily following previously made tracks in the snow and hewed bark signs on the trees. The creek was full and getting across to the plane's wing section was not possible. We had our lunch and made our way back down carefully.
The rhodies along the Tubal Cain Trail are about to bloom, I'd say 2 more weeks and they should be in full bloom. The side creeks are full but easily crossed.

Well there is a small slide about 9.6 miles after the turn off from Palato Alto. It’s passable in a light truck or SUV. The trail head had about 8 inches of fresh snow. The sheltered areas under tress had less but built gradually increase till it was about a foot deep at the Tull Canyon turn off. There were several larger trees down on the trail to tull’s Canyon as well as rock and a side slope that made it a challenge with the snowshoes. After losing the trail in the trees just above Tull city I made camp in about two feet of snow than hiked out in the morning after a pretty chilly night.

The Tubal Cain trail is clear all the way to the summit of Buckhorn Mountain. The flowers are bodacious in the meadows, the only mosquitos are at Tull City, and Buckhorn Lake is a gem.

Our group consisted of two adults and six children ages 12,10, 8, 8, 7, and 6.

From Sequim it took 1hr and 15 min to drive to the Tubal Cain Mine trailhead. The road was well marked and clear. When we reached the trailhead the parking lot was full, so we parked on the forest service road south of the trailhead. At 11:30am we signed in and headed off up the trail. Immediately we passed a few camp sites and then cross over Silver Creek on a log bridge. After roughly a quarter mile the trail steepened as we passed through Rhododendrons which had already bloomed and had started to wilt. We were disappointed, as we had hopped to see the Rhododendrons in bloom. Little did we know that further up the trail we would get what we wished for. For the next half mile the trail continues its steep assent. After a half mile the trail flattens out, and becomes a long steady incline that our kids had no trouble with. We passed several groups coming down the trail with very friendly dogs. After two miles of hiking we reached pink Rhododendrons which were in full bloom. Bees were swarming but paid no attention to us. We reached the junction to the Tull Canyon #847 trail. Here we talked to a group of two adults and three kids who had just returned from the B-17 wreckage. They told us that the trail was steep and that they had decided to stash their packs for the hike up. This would be good advice for us later in the day. We decided to continue up to Tubal Cain Mine, and then check out the B-17 on our way down. After passing the junction the trail passes through an area of the forest that looks as though an avalanche had passed through recently. The trail was clear with no obstructions, but the forest had little to no ground cover and a majority of the trees were either bent over or broken roughly two feet off the ground.

We made one final push up a small incline and into a meadow. The meadow is roughly 50 yards in diameter, and offered only glimpses of the peaks surrounding us. With a little exploring you can find a few clearing which provide excellent views. The ridge to the west of us was beautiful, and although we did not see any wildlife, one would expect this to be an excellent area for seeing deer, bear and elk.

After having lunch and stretching, we explored the hillside to the east of the meadow and found Tubal Cain Mine. You can not see the mine from below, so look for a massive mound of rock debris which I suspect was made while making the mine. The rock pile is quite steep and could be hard for some to climb up. At the top of the rocks there is a creek that is flowing out of the mine shaft itself. Make sure to turn around and take in the view from this vantage point. Even if you are not interested in seeing the mine itself the views of the valley and ridges to the west is worth the scramble up the rocks.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your stance on mine exploration, we did not have extra shoes. Given that the water was roughly 6-8 inches deep in the mine, we were relegated to only looking into the Mine shaft. I have read that some people have been back several hundred yards, but we were satisfied with the first 10 feet or so.

We returned to the meadow and the boys ran around the area while we explored the campsites for a possible return trip next summer. There are massive boulders, and some streams that the boys played “Call of Duty” on. The campsites were clean and well built. We will definably try to make it back to this area next summer for a 2-3 day trip.

At 3:15pm, we started back down the trail for the Tull Canyon junction. It took us twenty minutes to reach the junction. We took off our packs and stashed them next to the entrance of another mineshaft 100 yards past the junction. We learned that the grade of the trail between the junction and the mineshaft is the easiest until you reach the B-17. The hike to the B-17 is steep there is no other way to describe it. Even without our packs we had to stop and catch our breath five or six times on .7 mile trip to the B-17. The trail is narrow in places, with steep to sheer drop offs. Several blow downs blocked our path, but were easily navigated. One stream crossing proved interning towards the top, as it was deep and there were few places to put your feet which were not underwater. Once past the stream crossing we made one last push up what felt like a nearly vertical 200 yard section. Once we reached the top of this, the trail flattened out as we entered Tull Canyon. 100 yards beyond and to the left we found the wreckage of the B-17.

We talked to the kids about how the plane wrecked and admired the view of Tull Canyon and the peaks surrounding it. The view was amazing. We felt like we were in the middle of the Swiss alps. Unfortunately we only spent 20 minutes at the crash site due to clouds starting to come in over the peaks and the time of day, and not to mention the mosquitoes. There is a marsh just past the wreckage of the wing, and the mosquitoes from it were looking for blood. We agreed that next summer we would come back and spend more time at the crash site, and explore further up Tull Canyon. With that we headed back down.

The hike back to the car was uneventful. The trail does not offer many views of the mountains or ridges to either side of you, but the Rhododendrons were nice to look at. I recommend making this hike when they are in bloom.

When we got back to the trailhead we noticed that there were still ten cars at the trailhead, even though we did not pass anyone coming up. We suspect these people must have gone on to Marmot pass, which is beyond Tubal Cain Mine. We added that to our list of destinations to check out next summer.