Trip Reports

Four of us left Deer Park at 3pm on Tuesday with extra heavy packs holding many cans of beer, steaks and other non-dehydrated food, wine, liquor, and two inflatable rafts. We hiked down the the three forks area where Grand Creek, Cameron Creek and the upper part of the Gray Wolf River merge within half a mile. There seemed to be a good number of tired campers hanging around and we headed up the Gray Wolf toward camp Ellis, but stopped and camped at a site a mile or so up right near the the footbridge that takes you back across to the west side of the river -- cozy spot with barely enough room for a tent on each side of the trail and a small fire ring. Fabulous meal of steak, potatoes and red wine.

Next day, on the trail by ten, good for us. Four-plus miles up along the river, which was a little steeper that I expected, and then two-plus up the quite steep way trail to Cedar Lake (the shelter that is at the start of the way trail has burned down, BTW). The lake is large, cold, fed by melting snow fields and has plenty of hungry rainbow trout. We had a fly rod and a traditional reel rod. I'm a total hack with the flies, but I caught a couple right away and it was mid-afternoon. There are mosquitoes, but not terrible, and many fly hatches. The boats were inflated and both Anders and Morgan also caught fish. We ate five small ones with a Mexican-themed dinner.

A bear was seen in the hills to the west the next morning. We cooked up some bacon and eggs anyway (and were very careful to not spill any grease and to congeal it in a beer can and pack it out). More fish were caught, in the 12-15"" range even -- so the reports in the guide books are true. If we'd had a rest day at the lake, which I would recommend if you're out of shape like we are and still like hikes with elevation, then the peaks and ridges around the lake would have been fun to explore. Also, the pass/saddle to the SE of the lake (~6000') would be easy to attain and one could drop down to catch the trail headed up to Gray Wolf pass, either for a small loop back down river or to put a stop at the lake on the way up to the pass and beyond. Anyway, we lingered at the lake till mid-afternoon and then headed down. It wasn't as terrible as expected, but I wouldn't want to do it in the rain. Went all the way back to Gray Wolf camp at the three forks area so as to have just the long grind back up to Deer Park left for the next day. Sausage and pasta for dinner, yum, and a Belgian style wheat beer that had been carried for 10,000' of elevation change!

The hike out is a drag, even with lighter packs due to consumed food, beverage and fuel. If you have the time and energy for the mileage, consider hiking in from Slab camp or the start of the Gray Wolf trail down river -- I will next time. However, there are some great views of the northern parts of the park from the top half of the three forks trail, and very varied flora along the way.

Great trip. Prepare for some mosquitoes at the lake, even in mid-afternoon. Bring plenty of line for hanging your food -- no bear wires to speak of. Cheers!

The Pacific Northwest Trail Association, our Gray Wolf Trail Crew, and Kit's Llamas joined our volunteer forces this week to complete the restoration of the lower Gray Wolf Trail #834 in Olympic National Forest. Crib walls were built to fill four large holes created by rootball tipouts on the hillside past Two Mile Camp. These were joined with new and restored tread. This 100 yard section of trail had been largely destroyed by storms in the last two winters of 2006 and 2007. What had become a real obstacle course of scrambles is now trail meeting USFS standards, all the way to Cliff Camp and Divide Camp (4 miles), just below site of the former footbridge.

The heavy tools (come-along, cable, rebar, rock bar, etc) and supplies for this week-long work party were conveyed by Kit's Llamas of Olalla WA, without whose cheerful and entirely voluntary efforts this work would have been well-nigh impossible. THANKS, Kit! http://www.northolympic.com/llamas/

THANKS to Daniel Collins, PNTA Regional Coordinator, for organizing this very productive project. http://www.pnt.org/

The entire Gray Wolf Trail has now been cleared, from both the Deer Park and Slab Camp trailheads to Gray Wolf Pass.

The Cedar Lake way trail and the Deer Ridge trail have also been cleared.

Minor tread work at rootball tipouts and slides, and minor drainage work and brushing, have also been done on all these trails. All footbridges are intact. No obstacles for hiking.

Stock use: The middle Gray Wolf trail near Slide Camp (a mile below the Olympic Nat'l Park boundary) is not recommended for stock until the trail is widened by blasting cliffs; Olympic Nat'l Forest plans to contract this work in 2009. The remainder of these trails are usable for stock, although the stock ford at ""Nameless Camp"", a mile above Gray Wolf Camp, looks difficult.

- ONF/ONP Gray Wolf volunteer trail crew

Supplement to our June 2 report: the Lower Gray Wolf trail has now been cleared and brushed past Cliff Camp. Minor tread work was also done where fallen rootballs had torn out the trailbed.

At the end of the trail (mile 4.2), the footbridge over the Gray Wolf River washed out in 2003. The log which provides an alternative crossing remains in place (picture below) and is usable. It requires some bushwacking and traversing a short landslide on the far side to regain the trail and continue to Camp Tony, where the upper Gray Wolf and Slide Camp trails join.

The Slab Camp #838 and upper Gray Wolf #834 trails have been cleared and brushed almost to Slide Camp, 0.7 miles below the Olympic National Park boundary, by the USFS Gray Wolf volunteer Trail Crew. Four more trees (larger than 6"", plus 8 small ones)remain down below the ONP boundary, and 19 more from the Park boundary to Gray Wolf Camp and Three Forks Shelter.

Fifteen trees are down between Gray Wolf Camp and Camp Ellis. A section of the trail at mile 0.3 is flooded due a log jam in the river, but a large Doug fir adjacent to the trail serves as a convenient ""footbridge"" to bypass this.

Seven trees are down between Camp Ellis and Cedar Creek. A section of the trail at mile 3.0 remains under buried beneath avalanche snow and gravel.

However, all of these are relative easily negotiated on foot, and none of these pose serious obstacles to hikers. All footbridges are intact.

More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/RodFarlee/GrayWolf2008

The massive blowdown in the vicinity of Two Mile Camp was cleared by the efforts of WTA volunteers, the USFS Gray Wolf volunteer trail crew, and individual volunteers. The ""official"" count was 248 trees cleared, and the unofficial estimate, adding 3 days uncounted work, pushes the total over 300 trees cleared.

The trailbed has been torn out by two large rootballs a quarter mile above Two Mile Camp. This will be difficult to repair properly (bedrock, require cribbing?), but is readily negotiable on foot.

Eight trees remain down between mile 2.7 and 4.3, approaching Cliff Camp to the former bridge site, and will be cleared next weekend.

The log across the river about 100 feet below the former bridge site remains in place and usable to cross the river, which is currently running high and cannot be safely forded.

The unmaintained 3/4-mile section of trail between the former bridge site and the Slab Camp/upper Gray Wolf trail junction (at Camp Tony) has a slide and a few down trees across it.

Thanks to a lot of sawing and chopping by volunteers almost all of the downed trees are cleared on this trail: so far about 200 trees (including lots of small alders in the beginning part and about 110 trees criss-crossed in piles) have been cut or moved. A few logs remain, but are passable, after about 2.5 to 3 miles from the trailhead, so it is a rather pleasant hike to the river crossing at about 4 miles in. Lots of trilliums, calypso orchids, avalanche (snow) lillies, and some (yellow) violets! Campsites at 2 mile are clean and pleasant, with owls sometimes calling at night. The access road, #2870,had a few downed trees that have also been cleared. Enjoy.

Unable to get to the Dungeness TH or the Slab Camp TH because of snow we again did the Lower Gray Wolf, beginning at the old TH which begins just after crossing the bridge across the Gray Wolf River on the 2870 Road. We like this trail better than the new one as it is more forested. We did this same hike last Sat and went as far as the second set of blow-downs along the river. Most of the trees had had their branches removed since we were there in March, so the trail was easier to follow. Today we went only to the river. We saw no other hikers. Snow began falling on our return trip. After checking out the new TH and finding one car parked there, we started back to our camp. A barred owl landed in a tree along the road between the new and old TH and was a very cooperative photo poser! A very NEAT siting! Thanks in advance to WTA'S BCRT for their work to be done next week-end on this trail! :)!

The day started out all right. I took the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry and made my way to Sequim (pronounced squim, not se-quim). I originally planned to hike to Slab Camp, but there was too much snow on the forest service road, so I back tracked to FS road #2870 and went in 4.5 miles to the Gray Wolf River Trail head. I think I was the only one out there today. No one else had signed in on the roster at the trail head. There was snow on the sides of the trail, but none in the trail. Lots of squishy mud holes to walk through or around, but the main problem on the trail was blown down. I hiked in at lead 2-2.5 miles and lost the trail. I couldn't see where the trail continued because so many trees had fallen in all directions. There was no obvious path in sight. At this point I decided to turn around and head back up. I was able to make it to the river and walk along it a bit. There is the Cat Trail loop that makes the hike more interesting. I took that route on my way back since it merges back into to the Gray Wolf River trail.

This was our third time to hike this trail this year! There were 4-6"" of new snow on the road at the TH since we were there on 3-15 so a high clearance vehicle is still necessary to reach the TH. The 4-6"" of new snow on the trail was powdery so breaking trail was easy on the descent to the river;however, on the return the total depth on the trail (8-10"")the last 1-1/2 miles made elevating hard work! The fresh snow on the trail, trees, and undergrowth made for a beautiful winter hike! The snow on the trail lessens to trace as you approach the bridge. Thank you to WTA for clearing the trail to the bridge! We crossed the bridge and hiked to the Gray Wolf trail which we took for about.9 of a mile to the washout of a second bridge. We had lunch beside the river just prior to the washout. There are only a few blow-downs on this trail and all are easily negotiated! We began the hike with sunshine and blue skies, but the snow started as we approached the bridge at Duncan Flat.The falling snow and the solitude made for a Winter Wonderland and a beautiful hike! Life is Good!When we returned to the TH there were 4"" of new snow on our truck!

We began our hike at the old Trailhead just beyond the bridge across the Gray Wolf River. This access is more scenic and woodsy and the trail was in excellent shape. We hiked to where the trail meets the new Graywolf TH area. On our way out we met a gentleman who said he had been clearing this trail for 36 years. He had a saw hoping to clear the 2 remaining logs across the trail. Thank you to him!

Nothing new to add to Scott and Lucy's report of 1-06-08. The serious blowdowns are still there. We went through the first, but didn't venture through much of the second. Someone with a small pack and nothing hanging in front (we carry our cameras in front) could more easily climb over and under the blowdowns! There was one group camped before the first blowdown. On our way out we met 2 groups of backpackers--2 men and a Boy Scout Group. Hopefully they found a camp area!

Another weekend of avalanches so another trip to the Dungeness drainage. Slab Camp trail this time. A few blowdowns, but nothing like the mess last week (see my 1/6 report for Gray Wolf River)

There were 5 or so inches of snow the last 1mi on the road, but nothing a Subaru couldn't handle. The horse riders we passed that left their big-ass truck about 1/2mi from the trailhead sure didn't think my little wussy car would make it. Guess it could, ha!

The trail starts off pretty flat, rolling up & down through forest with lots of rhododendrons--must be pretty in the spring. After 3/4 of a mile or so it starts heading down towards the river. Never very steep, and the trail is one of the best maintained trails I've ever hiked. The forest is green, damp & mossy. Very beautiful.

We hit a little more snow & ice at the river. Probably about 3"" on the bridge. After crossing we headed steeply up to the fork in the trail & decided to go downriver (NNE) towards the aborted Gray Wolf hike of the previous weekend. The trail on the south side of the Gray Wolf is nowhere near as nice as the north side. After the fork it heads up some more & flattens out on a small overhang way above the river. If you dont like high narrow trails you may not like this! A couple of places the trail is slipping down the hillside.

About a mile in the trail ends in an unstable landslide right about where the gps said the bridge should be. We knew it wasn't going to be there, but weren't ready for the complete lack of evidence. If you look very closely you can see some steps cut into the hillside where the other end of the bridge should be.

The river may have been fordable, and there are currently a couple of trees that may be able to be used as bridges, but who knows what the spring melt will bring.

We backtracked a bit, had a pleasant lunch by the river & headed back up to the car. About 90 minutes from the trailhead to the river, another 45 to the washed out bridge, and about 2 hours back up to the trailhead. According to the register we were the first hikers on the trail in 2008! All these nice empty green trails almost make me want to put the snowshoes away for the season.

Avalanches are too bad to even attempt any cool snowshoe trips so it was time to head across to the banana belt around Sequim and get a hike in. Gray WOlf was our 2nd choice because the road down to the Upper Dungeness trail looked too dicy in the snow.

The trail starts off nicely on a retired forest road that has been bulldozed into something more like a single track and then starts descending down towards the river. We scrambled over a couple of blowdowns before we reached the river, but no big deal. It was lovely hikning through the lush green forest.

Right at the campsite the trouble begins. There is a section of 500m or so of serious blowdowns. Seriosly serious. So bad that you can't even see the trail. Follow the orange surveyor's tape and you should be able to get through.

About 150m of reasonable clear trail follows, and then about 700-800m of blowdowns. These hadnt been marked by surveyor's tape so it took us a lot longer. They are now marked with hot pink tape, though i didnt have quite enough so you may have to search hard for them.

Once through the second blowdown area the trail climbs the hillside and has 2 or 3 serious washouts with blowdowns. We got through that area and the trail seemed to clear out. by then it was approaching 3pm & time to head back over all the blowdowns.

All in all a great winter hike if you go prepared for the blowdowns. Follow the surveyor's tape carefully! This trail will need a lot of work come summer.

We hiked for the 3rd time this month to the massive blow down area which is at about 2.5 miles I think. We could see the work which the WTA crew had done last week-end-(THANK YOU!)-, but because of our packs and camera gear we did not try crossing the remaining logs in the area. We know it's possible to get to the bridge washout at 4.2 miles as we saw two hikers there on Friday from the Gray Wolf trail across the river coming from Slab Camp. However, our hiking time was short, so we turned around for the third time!

We started our hike at the newer TH on the 2870 Road about a mile above the TH described in Robert Wood's book.Thanks again to the WTA crew which cleared the trail to the river at about 2 miles and above to a point where there is a MASSIVE dominoe effect blowdown. We were unable to go beyond this point because of the size of the trees and the washed out trail.This was at perhaps .25 miles from the river as you begin going up towards the washed out bridge.We were back at the TH about 1:00 so decided to do part of the Gold Creek Trail.We started at the lower end near the former East Crossing CG. The Dungeness River is beautiful at the beginning of this trail. There's a dandy bridge crossing Gold Creek. It's a fallen log across the creek. Handrails and steps have been added to the fallen tree!We hiked about 2 miles one way.It appeared that the trail had been cleared earlier. 2 trees have fallen since this clearing and they are easily climbed over over.

Next time I might research more. I planned to hike up Grey Wolf, camp overnight, and then maybe climb Gladys. Oops. I didn't know that the bridge was washed out about four miles in. Oh well, at least I'll get a nice overnight campsite. The part of the trail outside the Wilderness boundary was fine, but there were forty downed trees between the Wilderness boundary and the washout. That's not counting the overhangs that didn't force me to duck.

Okay, but there was good news. The weather was sweet. The bugs were nearly nonexistent. I had the place to myself.

I would've stayed longer but the campsite doesn't have a toilet and finding land for digging a pit is so precious that some give up. That probably explained the smell. Of course, maybe the smell kept away the varmints. I didn't see any squirrels or chipmunks until I was a quarter mile from the campsite.

It was nice to away from the bugs. Maybe by my next trip will be up higher and after the bug swarm season.

I came expecting rhodedendron and rainforest but got very little of either. In the 4 miles from the trailhead to the bridge wash-out I counted a total of 4 rhodedendron bushes and they were not very large at that. In terms of rainforest character, the trail starts in deciduous forest and only enters coniferous forest once it reaches the river. By this time the trail is sandwiched between the river on its SE side and alpine terrain on its NW side so there is little room for the classic rainforest scenes on the other side of the range. One highlight is that there are some decent views of the river along the way. The trail ends abruptly after about 30 yards of sketchy traverse over a steep, muddy hillside at the former site of a bridge crossing. The bridge is long gone, but there's a sturdy tree that crosses the river at this spot so you could continue if you wanted to. I turned around. It didn't feel like 8 miles RT and I'm somewhat suspicious of that measure. Total time was only 4 hours and I was in no hurry. There were 6 other people on the trail (saw them all) but only 2 other cars so I think one group may have used the old trailhead. There were a few trees across the trail - maybe 5 total - but none were a big problem with only a day pack. The road was in good enough condition with a few minor potholes.

I took Daisy the Wonder Dog over to the Olympic peninsula for a couple of days of hiking, starting with an old favorite, the Gray Wolf river, on Monday. The weather never cleared up during the day as predicted, but some on and off showers were not enough to ruin this hike.

We started at the old trailhead just past the road crossing of the river, since it is more scenic and woodsy than the new trailhead farther up the road. It also has more blowdowns, plus a few semi-tricky washouts to navigate. The worst one has a convenient hand-hold rope to make the crossing more comfortable. There are also lots of stinging nettles right next to the trail, so be careful. Oh, yeah, and lots of slippery, clay mud as well.

The two trails converge right before the descent to the riverside for the first time, which is where all the good stuff begins. Huge trees, moss everywhere, ferns galore, flowering rhododendrons, a sweet rushing river, there's lots to like.

Just before the wilderness sign we came to a way trail heading to the right, away from the river. It leads to a fabulous grove of giant Doug firs and some huge cedars, too. While we were checking this cool stuff out, a man came crashing through the undergrowth nearby, so we said hello to him. It turned out to be Mr Don Stoneman, a frequent WTA trail maintenance volunteer, and the creator of the way trail we were on, as well as the Cat Creek loop trail. He was out surveying the trail for blowdowns for the FS or the WTA, I forget which (or maybe both?). He does a huge amount of volunteer work on trail maintenance, so I took the liberty of thanking him for all of us fellow hikers. We chatted for an hour or so, and he imparted much wisdon to me, plus some ""fun facts"" about the giant trees, such as that the biggest one was 8' 4"" (I think) diameter above the root bulge. He was quite impressed with how smart Daisy was, even though he admitted he is not particularly fond of dogs. I wanted a picture of the biggest tree with Daisy in it, so I told her ""Go over by that tree and sit so I can take your picture"", and I pointed over towards the tree. Sure enough, the dog walked over to the tree, sat down, and ""posed"" for her picture. He was still not convinced that it was skill, not luck, until I had her do it again a few minutes later. She is trained to go where I point, and is a natural camera hog, but it's still a neat trick. I told Mr Stoneman that I would encourage future visitors to the area to hike his short trail to the grove of giant trees, as this will make the trail more distinct, and maybe help convince the FS to make it permanent. I named him the O-fishal ""Master of the Grove"".

We then headed along the river on the main trail, just taking in the rainforesty feel of the place, breathing in that wonderful dampness that is redolent of moss, old wood, oxygen and growing things. We kept going to Cliff camp, then the rain started up in earnest, so we turned around, as it was getting late anyway. Of course the rain immediately let up, but what can you do? I left my hiking pole leaning against a tree and didn't notice it, so I had to walk back at least a mile to get it back. I hate when that happens! I decided on the way back to hike to the newer trailhead then down the road back to the car, and the new trail was much easier, basically a grassy road with no blowdowns, but a few stinging nettles. The mistake I made was in completely forgetting the length of the road between trailheads. I cursed my stupidity for over 1.5 miles of a seemingly endless road trudge.

I drove back into Sequim for dinner, then back up towards the Tubal Cain trailhead, and car-camped at the open veiw site about 1/2 way along the road section that traverses high above the Dungeness river. The next day we hiked Tubal Cain, but that is literally another story. There are ten pics posted at NWHikers.net in the ""Trip Reports"" forum, and the same ten at Flickr.com under the username ""Slugman"", including a nice pic of Don Stoneman and the biggest tree in ""his"" grove. It was very nice to meet you, Don, and thanks again for all the trail work you do that benefits everyone!

Visited Gray Wolf river on Saturday 4/22. Caught 5:50am ferry, drove in to trailhead via Palo Alto road past attractive farmlands to arrive at 7:30am. Two other cars at trailhead. Passed two occupied campsites that were only just stirring. Miles 2 to 5 more attractive than the first portion of trail. Arrived at bridge washout ~5 miles at 9am. Wood's book has this to say about this bridge: ""The trail then crosses a bridge built high enough to preclude its destruction by floods"". True, though not by slides it would appear. Not to worry one can cross via an obvious pucker log a few dozen yards south of washout. Trail beyond the smashed bridge is gorgeous. And passes high above river in cliffy sections that Wood's says: ""This is no place to sleepwalk..."". He's not kidding it's an unnerving drop. Arrived at Camp Tony, intersection with Slab Camp trail soon after that, to view the new massive steel-girdered bridge. Got to Slide Camp around 11am, a ho-hum spot aside from pee-a-boo views of Baldy up Slide creek as you approach. Onward, through hemlock thickets that make the trail a tunnel, to the lovely Three Forks area where another bridge is out. Arrived Three Forks about 11:50am and dawdled until 12:20. Had been here in worse shape, on return trip from Cameron Creek loop I did last Summer. Moved quickly on return trip, stopped a few times to chat with large incoming boy scout troop (busy trail!), arrived back at car at about 3:10pm. Drive back to ferry was slower due to increased traffic so I just missed the 4:30pm. What an amazing trail. The sections above the bridge washout are spectacular and varied. Cool, still hemlock thickets and mossy ledges.

We began our hike at the fairly new trailhead about 1 1/2 miles north of the concrete bridge over the Gray Wolf River on FSR 2870. There are several downed trees, esp. fromTwo Mile Camp at 1150 feet to Cliff Camp which is 1200 feet. The trail between Two Mile Camp and Cliff Camp has it's ups and downs, but is never very steep.There is an observation point at about 3.2 miles . This is about 1500 feet. Cliff Camp is 3.5 miles. We hiked to the washed out bridge area at 4.2 miles. There is a nice camp site near here where Divide Creek enters the Gray Wolf on the opposite side. We could see the other side which we had hiked to a few weeks ago starting at the Slab Camp TH. The route from Cliff Camp follows the Gray Wolf through a narrow gorge where the Graywolf forms a series of pretty blue-green pools and rapids. The forest is very beautiful with moss covered floors. A very nice winter hike!

The Grey Wolf River trail offers a beautiful forest ramble and a great opportunity for solitude. The trail is rarely visited, and also not well maintained and brushy. The sign at the trail head reads ""both footbridges out."" The trail starts along an old road, then enters forest at a juction with Cat Creek Loop trail (which re-connects with grey wolf trail in about 1/4 or so). At about the 3 mile mark you will see a faint trail straight ahead and the main trail curving to the right and going steeply 50 feet uphill using some steps. Don't take the main trail. Instead, go straight and towards the river and find a place to cross here. There's a nice log over the river, but it's missing it's bark 1/2 way accross and will be slippery when wet, fording might be safer. If you were to go uphill, the trail narrowly crosses a landslide, then goes steeply downhill 30 feet and comes to a dead end. There is a log here at the dead end, but it has many braches sticking up, making a crossing much too difficult. Once on the other side follow the river's bank for 100 feet and regain the trail. Now the path leaves the river and in 1/4 mile is a junction, with a trail steeply turning downhill to the right (my return path). Go straight, and in about 3 miles of an easy uphill grade is a trail juction and a campsite. From here I continued 1/4 mile,crossed Carmon Creek and I camped at Three Fork campsite. In the morning I went uphill to Deer Park, took the road to the ""Rainshadow Trail"" to the top of Blue Mtn. BAck at deer park I took trail #846 to a road. I turned left at the road for about 50 feet and then took trail #838 (both these trails are dashed lines on my Olympic Park map, but are well maintained) down Slab Camp creek. Once trail #838 flatens out the trail splits, turn right and in 100 feet is the river crossing, and a cement foundation covered in tarps on both sides of the river. The ford of Grey Wolf River is easy, then 150 feet steeply uphill is Grey Wolf River trail.

Yetiman, Daisy TWD and I awoke on Tuesday morning at 9 am at our campsite on the forest service road to Dungeness trail, and were treated to some morning sun. As we made breakfast and packed up our camp, it became positively warm. We drove on down to the Grey Wolf trailhead, the official, upper trailhead, not the parking lot just past the bridge over the river, another good place to start. By now it was almost noon, so we boogied down the trail, which starts out as a grassy abandoned roadbed. We passed the Cat creek trail junction, then met up with the other trail segment that forms a triangle with the Cat creek trail, and turned right, descending down into the valley of the ""Wolf"". The whole character of the forest changed at this point. The temperature dropped ten degrees at least, and it became, not rain forest, but ""mist forest"", dampened by the ever-present moisture of the river. The moss gardens along this next section of the Grey Wolf are the best I've seen anywhere. The trail goes along some fine bottom land next to the river, with whole sections of nothing but tree trunks and moss. There is more tree variety here than at Dungeness, cedars and spruces joining the firs. Perhaps because of the lower elevation? Eventually the trail climbs out of the bottom land, and ascends to a high point overlooking the valley. We stayed there for a while, and then some rain came down, the first we'd seen in two days. I'd already seen the smashed bridge that closes the trail less than a mile farther, and Yetiman decided to return another day to see it, so we headed back, at 3:45. We got back to the cars at 5:15 after some steady hiking. No flashlights were used, due to the open nature of the last mile of trail. We spent 5 1/2 hours going five miles, another modest day, with a bit more elevation gain than Monday's hike. If you've never hiked this short trail (until the bridge is fixed), I highly recommend it. A vigorous hiker could detour off of hiway 101 for just three hours, including driving to/from the trailhead, and see the best of the moss gardens, a worthy diversion from a drive farther along hiway 101.

Our initial plan was to head out from Deer Park, up Gray Wolf River, over Gray Wolf Pass, up to Cameron Pass and Grand Valley, and then between Obstruction Peak and Deer Park-- a 39 mile trip. Didn't work out quite as expected, but was still a great trip.

Headed out from Deer Park to 3 Forks. Trail is fine, but it goes down forever and we pitied anyone who would have to come back up. After a little confusion we found the Gray Wolf River trail. This trail has a number of blow downs, all navigatable with some determination, and some river crossings on logs that were a little scary. Immediately after Falls camp, the trail disappears for a while under a substantial stream. We found it again a hundred feet or so upstream. The trail continues up and up until opening into broad glorious meadows right below Gray Wolf Pass. The weather had cleared, we were done hiking up for the day, and everything was beautiful.

At this point, we decided not to do the planned loop. Since we had found the ""maintained"" trail a little tricky to follow, we were worried about the leg of the trip that would be on ""unmaintained"" trail. Plus we heard rumors that there might still be a lot of snow on later segments of the trail, and though we were prepared with ice axe, we didn't want to spend that much time on snow. We plan to come back and do the whole thing some other day.

Camped that evening having seen only 2 other people the entire day! I can't believe we found solitude on a gorgeous 4th of July weekend.

Next day, we day hiked to Gray Wolf Pass. There are several snow fields on the way and I was glad to have the ice axe, though j, ever comfortable on snow, didn't need it. I don't think the snow fields will last much longer. It was a beautiful day and the views were great.

Then headed over unmarked route to Cedar Lake. The path is only visible in a few places; other than that we were winging it. Passed a couple of hidden, still-frozen tarns before getting to the ridge above Cedar Lake. To get down to Cedar Lake was another steep snowfield or scramble through scree and rocks. Once down, we shared the entire lake, surrounded by mountains and filled with fish, with only one other group, and overly friendly buck, and hardly any bugs.

The unmaintained trail from Cedar Lake back to Gray Wolf River Trail is steep and at times disappears in meadows and boggy places. However, it would probably be hard to get lost because there is only one way out-- follow the creek down the valley. The meadows, while beautiful and filled with wildflowers, also contain annoying stinging nettles, so gaiters or pants might be useful.

Headed back up the river and had to climb the relentless 4 miles UP from 3 Forks. A hard way to end a long day! It was clear at the top and we could see the final miles of our planned loop trip along the ridge from Obstruction Peak, making our mouths water for the next time we can try it.

Went for a trip with some Tacoma Mountaineers on this miserable, rainy day. At least it was raining in Olympia - in the northeast Olympics, it was partly sunny almost all day. We got drizzled on for maybe 20 minutes in all.

We hiked the first four miles of the lower stretch of the river. The trail follows an old roadbed for the first mile or so, and then drops to the river at 2 miles. It was up and down from there - sometimes next to the river, sometimes not. We had plenty of stretches right next to the water and a few nice vantages high above it offering good views up the valley. It was great to see fresh snow on the trees and mountains in the distance.

The bridge that crosses the river at the four-mile mark was smashed to bits, so that is where we turned around. There were some big slides on both sides of the river at this point. On the side where we were (north side) the trail was washed out in a few additional places, making for (a total of) a hundred yards or so of pretty tricky walking. It was pretty neat to get an up-close view of Mother Nature's handywork.

The trip back to the car after lunch was pretty quick, though we took a side trip along the Cat Creek Trail. Great day to get outside and away from holiday shoppers!

It was a beautiful day in the Olympic rainshadow. I started out at the little parking lot that is just after the one-lane bridge over the river.The signed trailhead is at the top of the next hill, maybe 1/2 mile up the road. My Nat. Geo. topo showed the real trailhead and trail start as an abandoned 4 wheel drive road. The way I went starts by switchbacking up a decent hill to a nice overlook of the river. It is then flattish to Cat Creek, where there is a loop trail that includes some of the ""real"" Gray Wolf River Trail. The fun starts at the descent to 2-Mile camp where the Buckhorn Wilderness begins. Giant trees, moss gardens, raging river, towering cliffs, total isolation. The moss carpets the entire riverside shelf like shag carpet in a 70's party van. The trail heads up to another view perch, then drops precipitously to the aptly-named ""Cliff Camp"". The next section was my favorite, as the trail hugs the riverside, bordered by moss on both sides, and just winds along in a very picturesque manner to ""Not-Shown-On-Any-Map Camp"". The bridge at about 3 miles in is smashed, but is worth seeing just for that. That is the end of the line for hiking until the bridge is replaced, and judging by the other maintainance this trail needs, that could be a while. There are several areas where this trail has collapsed into the river, and a couple of them are somewhat dangerous. Quite a few trees are down across the trail, but they are all negotiable with care. There is also a lot of clay-like mud that will hold and then slip. The elevation gain net was minimal, the gross sustantial, due to ups and downs. The GPS data said 1,300 ft in, 600 ft out, 6.2 miles round-trip. It might be a little shorter and less gain on the way in from the official trailhead. To get there, take Highway 101 towards Sequim and turn left on Louella Rd just before Sequim Bay State Park. Turn left on Palo Alto Rd, and follow it past the two 90-degree turns. Stay to the right then turn right, following the signs for Dungeness Forks campground. Go past the camp and take the next right, which will take you to the above mentioned one-lane bridge and both trailheads for this hike.

The lower portion of the trail is in excellent shape. No blow-downs and very little mud in spite of the recent rain. The turnpikes really are appreciated. The bridge is still gone(and has been for several years) but the hike through the forest is quite impressive, especially for the low elevation and it's proximity to Sequim. This is an excellent trail for winter hikes and camps. The river was crystal clear and we enjoyed some sunshine early before it clouded over.

The former trail head close to the F. R. 2870 bridge over the Gray Wolf River has been closed and the new trail head is 1 mile further north and further uphill where Spur 180 used to branch off from F. R. 2870. The parking lot at this new trail head is very small and holds only 4 vehicles, but the road is wide enough to allow additional vehicles to park on the shoulder. There have been attempts to (necessarily or not) improve the trail which was already fairly stable (although wet at times) on the former road bed. Turnpikes were built and filled with gravel to handle the anticipated heavy traffic (once the other trail obstacles are removed). The trail was rerouted around the berms that were pushed there by a bulldozer when Spur 180 was closed. In one place all of the old road has slid down the hillside, but the trail negotiates this spot easily. At 0.5 mi. a new foot trail descends to the Cat Creek Loop which makes a good alternate return route. The loop trail and the old trail connect to the main trail at 1.4 mi. from the parking lot. On a map posted at the trail head bulletin board, the bridge is designated CLOSED, but neither the Forest Service web site nor posted warnings at the trail head caution hikers about the dubious condition of the bridge. Instead, the web site trail condition report says ""Trail closed at slides before bridge"". The slides are treacherous, yes, but can be crossed on foot in dry weather. The bridge used to be supported by three logs and was wide and sturdy enough for horses to cross. Now, one of the logs is rotten through and through and has cracked. It hangs in mid-air, but it is still connected to the bridge. Its weight is now carried by the other two logs and the bridge has sagged and tilted dangerously. It could collapse any moment. It should be marked UNSAFE FOR USE, CROSS AT YOUR OWN RISK. Parts of the railing are missing. The Forest Service is planning to replace the bridge (hopefully soon). This trail description is incomplete because it covers only the first four miles of the trail up to the rotten bridge just downstream of Camp Tony. This section of the trail is in good shape and a Forest Service crew had just gone through and cut a fallen tree that had slid on the trail. Other people who ignored the closure sign at the former trail entrance next to the Gray Wolf River bridge on F. R. 2870 (the one with a big parking lot) and hiked through the closed lower section of the trail report several slides that are dangerous to cross even when dry.

Hiked from the Gray Wolf River TH to Slab Camp Creek for a leisurely leg stretcher through another great section of the Buckhorn. Despite being in the rainshadow, there is still a wonderful carpet of yellowish moss all along the trail, with nice glimpses up the gorge of the steep valley wall above the Gray Wolf. Overall, the trail is in good shape except for a few ""duckwalking"" blowdowns and one slide that has resulted in significant trail erosion. Note: the pack bridge at Mile 4 is missing its railings and the footlog across Slab Camp Creek is washed out, resulting in a tricky (and not recommended) ford if one wished to reach camp at FR 2875.

A WTA crew was out working on the first mile of the trail to remove the log steps and to cut around the old berms to flatten the trail out.

Segments of the trail have been washed out a couple miles from the TH and the segment just before the bridge is essentially gone from soil erosion.

The camps along the river are in good condition.

The trail after the last camp by the river up to the park boundary has numerous blowdowns. We cleared many of the small ones, but there are at least half a dozen big ones that are not easy to pass.

this trail is in pretty rough shape... moderate, avoidable wash out at about three miles, then another slightly more complicated, rocky slide-related wash out a little ways past that, then just before the pack bridge, a precarious mud-slide traverse over the rushing river. the pack bridge has gotten some serious damage, too. then, as if all of that isn't enough, in the middle of a steep and high (200 or so feet down in the event of a misstep) slide area, around five miles in, a couple of huge fallen trees are blocking the trail, requiring a bit of rather nimble scrambling to get over, around, under and back down to the trail. we turned around at slide camp, 5.5 miles. trail generally okay, but cliffy, muddy, in need of maintenance, and not for the faint of heart. also cold and snowy.

The lower Gray wolf is now accessible from it’s original trailhead, (no sign), on FS2870, 40 yards past the bridge. The trail is quite interesting in many ways. The first few miles are interspersed with virgin forest and old burns from about 20-50 yrs ago, accompanied by some large, singed Douglas Firs. In the midst of this there is almost a mile stretch of 15-20 year old clear-cut, which is punctuated, mysteriously, with small groves of old Red Cedar. Maybe saving them for later' Also, to my surprise, there are many Grand Firs, some over 150ft. This is the only trail I know of on the Olympic Peninsula that has this species. Perhaps because it’s on the driest corner of the peninsula. Grand Firs mostly keep in the Eastern Cascades. One will also come across, in these first few miles, the reason the trail was closed in the first place. About 3 or 4 massive slides, now easily detoured by following the boot prints. There is one, though, that goes straight across on loose dirt that was a little scary when it was dry, and I wouldn’t want to attempt it when wet.

After these varying points of interest one wanders into Buckthorn Wilderness, with all it’s attendant old growth and moss. This hike starts out around the 1000’ level, and only gains about 1200’ more, so there’s not much evidence of Pacific silver fir, but the Grand Firs made up for it.

After around four miles you cross a wide old bridge with some handrails rotted off, and then begin a long switchback climb for little over a mile before it starts to level off. Across the river one glimpses slopes of old growth. After about 6 miles, the last 1/4 mile on level trail running along a wooded ridge, and right before the trail starts to go down, my partner and I decided that the view from where we were would have to do, sparsely blocked by little trees. There might have been better views further down, but then maybe not.

One final note; for some big old growth, take the 1/4 mile or so spur down to the river from Slab Creek camp.

After Palo Alto road got horrendously lost on Rd. 28 or 2880 or somesuch, we had no way of knowing as most of roads were not marked. Furthermore, detour signs cropped up then disappeared, wandered arround past unfamilier territory passing pullovers marked Test Area 3, Test area 5, and so on, then ended up at sign saying 2 miles to MT. Zion! Came to junction marked ""Rt. 28- 9 miles to 101"" Figured that would take us somewhere around Sequium and back where we started to try again. Arrived at 101 and made right to get back to Palo Alto Rd. In less then mile approached town assuming it to be Sequium, but it was not. It was QUILCENE!! Bagged the Greywolf and took off up Penny Creek Rd for Lower Big Quilcene Trail. After 1-2 miles turned out to be really neat trail. IF ANYONE KNOWS SECRET MAZE RT. TO LOWER-GREYWOLF, PLEASE INFORM. Thank You.

The Royal Basin access via the Upper Dungeness Trailhead (US Forest Service) is not presently open due to major washouts on the Forest Service roads into that area. There is no anticipated date of opening.

The lower Graywolf Trailhead is accessible, however the Forest Service trail has blown out in many sections. This means that the Gray Wolf and Cameron Creek areas of Olympic National Park will remain less accessible due to the additional problems on the Gray Wolf Trail. Access to the park via the upper Gray Wolf trails from Slab Camp is unknown at this time due to snow.

Hiked to the bridge at about 4
miles. Cut out 3 blowdowns while a larger group brushed the clearcut at the start of the trail. The slide near the bridge has been repaired. The bridge lost a section of handrail during the winter. I always enjoy the spectacular canyon just beyond the bridge. I think I like the trail better in the winter.

Baldy is a mountain
located between Gray Wolf ridge and Tyler Peak in the North East corner of the Olympics. The trail appears on most maps at the end of road #295. The old road is washed out at Mueller Creek. Parking usually isn't a problem. I've never seen another car there. After hiking the road 5 minutes, look for a carin and flaging tape marking a trail to the right. This trail cuts steeply up to where the orrigional trail started on the old road. This new trail cuts about 10 minutes, instead of hiking the big switchback on the road. The trail continue's up the ridge. At times, it's extreamly steep for a trail. Eventually we hit snow, but snowshoes solved the problem. The trail continue's up a fire line. We left the trail when it starting traversing the mountain. We continued up the ridge till treeline. A short traverse on Baldy's east ridge led us to the snowfree final 200 feet to the summit. We had a mixed bag of weather but usually pretty good. It took about 4 hours to summit 6,797 foot Baldy. About a half mile over was Gray Wolf Ridge with it's 7,218 foot summit. From Baldy, there looked to be a nice corniced traverse followed by a knife edged snow ridge to the summit. I had to do it. My friend felt it looked to dangerous for his experience so I left alone. I dropped down 500 feet and traversed an easy ridge to the base of the climb. It was steep at times but anyone with ice axe and crampon skills wouldn't worry. The corniced ridge had a safe side and the knife edged snow ridge turned out to be more like a bench. Not as crazy as I hoped but it was still worth the extra effort for the summit. It took 1 hour to summit Gray Wolf from Baldy. On our way down it snowed like crazy. The weather sure can change quick in the Olympics. We saw nobody but it was mid week. There was even evidence of last years Search & Rescue teams that looked for the lost hiker there. The peaks are worth the effort. Eric Willhite