The trail is quite good for the first 4 miles. There's a light dusting of snow everywhere as you walk along the river, but it makes for great hiking. Once you hit the avalanche chutes, it gets a bit heavier, though the views are spectacular. There's probably about an inch or two there, but then you quickly go back into the woods and it thins out again. The hard part is the last mile, and particularly the last half mile. The fresh powder builds up to about 10 inches, the trail gets hard to see, and when the wind caught my map I was running after it (or trying to run) in snow past my knees. Great hike for the most past, but it's too late now to do the whole thing.

To take advantage of one of the last days this year when the higher reaches are not yet snow covered, we headed out to the Big Quilcene trail. Since we had a late start we realized we wouldn't be able to make it all the way to Marmot Pass and get back before it was dark. There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot when we arrived and nobody else came later. We met up with the other person as we were ascending and he descending. Unlike our unpleasant experience with the hunters on motor bikes last week at Mount Townsend, this hunter was a pleasure to talk with. He had spent four (quite freezing nights) up high and though he hadn't found his prey, saw many other animals, especially coyotes--and one black bear, which he said was near the trail.
     After talking with him and realizing that now we were the only people in the entire area, we became more watchful for the possibility of bear: talking loudly, singing, and such, so we wouldn't surprise one.

    Although it was sunny when we started out, the fog kept getting thicker and by the time we reached the open slopes, completely covered all the view. We ate our lunch on a couple of big rocks in the largest avalanch slope, and luckily, by the time we finished, the fog lifted and we had some of the most beautiful views of the surrounding peaks I've seen on this hike before. As we continued upward for a while after eating, the fog returned and everything turned back to grey. It was our turn around time anyway. We had climbed about 2700 feet and hiked about four miles by that time. Our return was uneventful; we enjoyed the close views of the river and the gorgeous trees. No bears in sight!

Absolutely beautiful and passes through about 3 different ecosystems.

The gravel road to this trailhead is very well maintained. Just a few potholes, but mostly smooth and newly graded. I was fine in my little 2-door coup. The hiking trail is exceptionally well maintained and about 2-3ft wide at all times..

Starting the hike, the entire valley was in the fog, but it burned off by about 11am, leaving incredible views of jagged mountains. It had snowed the night before, so the last 1.5-2 miles was under snow and I was sinking in about 1ft up at the pass. The sunny day was causing the snow to melt very quickly, though. Even under all the fresh snow, the trail was very easy to follow. I imagine this is nearly the end of the season for the upper elevations of this hike.

This was a weekday and I passed about 10 others on the trail also aiming for Marmot Pass.

Trying to get at least one decent backpack in this summer, I planned a 4-to-6 day trip from Big Quilcene trailhead to Whiskey Bend trailhead to hike a number of parts of the park I've never been to before like the Big Quilcene, Constance Pass, middle of the Dosewallips trail, Hayden Pass, and Dodger Point. There was even a good weather forecast for the first 3 days...

I did not end up going up to Dodger Pt, but included Dodger Pt/Semple Plateau trail in the list as there is some information about the ford down below.

Big Quilcene trail:

Heading up the Big Quilcene was nice. There were 6 other cars at the trailhead on a Monday in mid-September, which was a bit surprising - I was expecting no one. I guess it's a popular day hike. There were 5 cars there the next Sunday afternoon. The terrain (or vegetation, at least) is quite varied on the way up. There are some interesting dry (but still vegetated) scree slopes below rock pinnacles Buckhorn and Iron Mts., then quite wet areas when you get back near the valley bottom with lots of springs and seeps. It's quite lush around and above Camp Mystery, with a snow patch here and there, but then quite suddenly becomes low brown grass in the basin immediately below Marmot Pass. I didn't see any marmots, but did hear one in the distance. The vegetation changes again somewhat dramatically after crossing the divide to the Dungeness drainage. Right by the pass it's actually greener with lots of flowers still blooming, but then you descend into very dry, sparse pine forest. Yes, really, there is some pine forest on the sunny slopes. The trail is noticeably less used on the way to Boulder Camp, where it is lush and green again.
  There is one good-sized, steep snow patch on the trail not too far from (and visible from) the pass - boots and poles are helpful, and you could slide a ways on it (continuing down the scree...) if you slipped. And there is one down log on the trail - it's in great shape.

Constance Pass trail:

  This trail is much less used than the trail before Boulder Camp. And, surprisingly to me, it becomes noticeably less used after the turnoff for the Charlia Lakes. There is almost no use from there to the Dosewallips, lots of small branches and such down, and trees down here and there. The trail is pleasant enough, and the scree cones and talus piles below the cliffs on Warrior Peak and the west side of Constance are quite impressive. There is also a lot of snow still on the slopes and valley bottom there. There is a swath of avalanche damage a little below Home Lake, with lots of trees broken off 15 to 20' above the ground and about 10 trees to clamber over or under and some snow patches. If you're northbound, it's likely easier to drop down to the large snowfield filling the valley bottom and slide your way to the bottom of that to rejoin the trail, but it’s not too bad. The climb from Home Lake to Constance Pass is pretty wet and sloppy and eroded in places, but no snow right on the trail.
  The 700' uphill after reaching Constance Pass was a bit surprising! It's obvious on the map, but I'm not sure I've ever taken a trail over a pass that climbed substantially up the ridge from the pass before dropping down the other side. Then there is the brutal 4200' descent in about 4 miles. The ridgetop is quite nice and open, with good views. Then there is interesting geology/topography of shale slopes dropping down to the pond at "Sunnybrook Meadows". Camping is best a little above the pond, and the first/last good water source is a large spring above the pond where the slope flattens/steepens.
  There's a fair bit of wet, muddy, sloppy, overgrown trail in the valley bottom before you reach the dry ridge that takes you the rest of the way down to the Dosewallips trail. That trial is oddly dry with small trees and almost no undergrowth for quite a while. Probably hard to find under the snow. Eventually you start going through rhododendrons, then salal before reaching the Dosewallips trail. I don't remember much in the way of down trees on the descent.

Dosewallips trail:

  Back to a heavily used trail, and it's not even steep! No problems making good time up the Dosewallips. No trees down, no overgrowth, no problems. In the upper part of the valley, but below Dose Meadows, the avalanche chutes have even been brushed, which is very nice. Last time I did that piece of trail, it was wading through waist to chest deep vegetation, including patches of nettles here and there. Not so fun. Thanks for the brushwork, whoever did it!
  There are numerous marmots at Dose Meadows and above, and the terrain is spectacular. Lots of flowers, lots of springs, some wet meadows, views of the steep cliffs and snow cornices on Mt. Fromme. There are a couple small snow patches on the way to Hayden Pass, but they are not steep or dangerous. The last water on the way up is a large spring above the trail around 5300' at the bottom of the obvious switchbacks climbing up the headwall. Nice views from the pass.

Hayden Pass trail:

  I left the trail around 5700' to climb the WSW spur of Mt. Fromme, then traversed the basin below it to head up Mt. Claywood. No problem going up it, although it was kind of windy. There's a nice sheltered nook on the N. side of the Claywood summit, though. Absolutely spectacular views from there - You're right in the middle of the Olympics, on one of the highest mountains around. Mt. Anderson or Crystal Peak are probably the only comparable views, although they might actually not be as good, since various parts of Anderson probably block views more. Anyway, you can see Mt. Angeles, Deception, Constance, Jupiter and the Brothers (both surprisingly isolated), Rainier, St. Helens, Washington, Stone, Anderson, Colonel Bob (I think), Skyline Ridge (with a fair bit of snow still), Crystal, White, Meany, Olympus, and the Bailey Range. Quite spectacular. The view down to the 5/8 snow covered lake between Fromme and Claywood is nice, too. There's a nice little moraine (little ice age?) holding the lake in. And another pond off to the north, lots of pretty snow patches and glaciated terrain...
  The first copious water on the way down is at about 5300', with the best water being two streams right after one another. There is a lot of water coming down the mountain from 5300' to about 4000' - no need to carry water! Some areas are bogs with essentially no trail - you WILL be slopping through inches deep much and mire. A lot of the trail that is not mud is loose shale, and is sliding down the mountain slowly, or churned up by marmots, so it's not in the best shape. This stretch could use some work... I thought WTA had a trail crew here last week, but I guess not, as I didn't see any signs of trail work on this trail except for a tiny bit of brushing at the bottom. There are about 17 trees down above 4000', but most are just step-over old snags. One of the worst is a green tree immediately below Marmot Pass.
  Below about 4000' the trail is in good shape, with no trees down, but still occasional streams for water. The "intermittent" stream that crosses the trail twice at its northernmost extreme is gushing nicely.

Dosewallips trail:

  I spent the night at Hayes River campground, where the Elwha was easily fordable at a nice, gravel-bottomed knee deep ford. Then it rained, lightly, all night and through the morning. The river had come up at least a few inches before I left (after packing up under the ranger station porch). I had planned to cross the Elwha and take the Dodger Pt. trail / Semple Plateau trail up to Dodger Pt. for the night. But the ford did not look nearly as nice - boulder/cobble bed, the river seemed high, the river had gotten much cloudier either because of the rain or the Goldie River, and you could not see the bottom in the center. And I figured the trail was probably overgrown and I'd be soaking wet all day to spend a night up high with unknown weather. So I just continued downstream. For 2 miles, until the weather had improved significantly. So I hiked back to the ford and tried it. I got to about mid-stream, the water was crotch-deep and very forceful, and I could not see where I was stepping or if the next step would be deeper or shallower, so I gave up. And headed back down the Elwha. Again.
  It appears there is lots of potential camping along the river (off the trail) from the ford (Remann's cabin) to Elkhorn ranger station. Around the ranger station is a surprising open grass terrace that would be nice for getting some sun. Not a lot to report downstream from there - the trail is mostly in good shape, no trees down that I remember, well brushed (although your feet can get pretty wet from low grass and vegetation hanging over the trough the stock have beaten the trail into). There's the big climb between Mary's Falls and Lillian River, but it's pretty gradual and is obvious on the map. Saw a bear way ahead of me climbing up the through thick trees at one point. And there is lots of bear poop along the trail from about Lillian River down past the trailhead and along the road.

  Out of curiosity, I looked at the data from the USGS gaging station above Lake Mills, and that one overnight drizzle (where I was, anyway), caused the river to double in flow, rise 8" or more, and have a huge spike in turbidity all in about 12 hours. Bad timing for my ford attempt - I'm sure the evening before I could have done it. It appears that you need a flow below 1000 cfs at station 12044900 for the ford, and I think 700 or so might be passable. Oh well, I'll have to try to get up Dodger Pt. some other time or some other way.


General points:

  There were hardly any blueberries anywhere. I think there were just not many this year, although maybe the alpine ones had ripened and all harvested by bears already? I did see purple bear poop. I found a few deliciosum berries that were delicious, and some lowland blueberries and red huckleberries, but the latter were few and far between, and not very good. I think there are going to be hungry bears this fall.
  Bugs were not much of a problem. They were worst around Home Lake and Hayden Pass, and some at Dose Meadows, but I never used DEET even while cooking and eating, and they were not a real issue. Annoying at times, but not enough to make me do anything about it.
  There are a lot of flowers blooming considering the late date, presumably because of the late, late summer and heavy snowpack. It was interestingly varied, with early flowers like phlox and Douglasia blooming still in spots, but other areas seeming like fall. And some areas very wet still, and others quite dry.
  Saw a lot of marmots from Dose Meadows to Hayden Pass, a number of squirrels and chipmunks, a bear (barely), a few deer, a couple frogs, a garter snake, lots of ravens, lots of juncos feeding, flocks of American Pipits (I'm pretty sure) on the snowfields and seedy meadows by Constance Pass, a park service mule/horse team headed out Dosewallips, and about 15 people (7 of those the first day, 1 on each of the last two).
  It was a great hike, although a bit too vigorous considering how out of shape I am. First real backpack trip in years. And that last day was brutal - 16 miles according to the Green Trails maps, 17 according to the park service map, plus about 4 miles of backtracking, then bicycling with pack down to 101, where I missed the last bus, and biking up and over the Little River Rd. to Port Angeles, in the dark. It was all nice enough (one reason to avoid 101), but a long, long day.

Elwha dam:

  Oh, just some comments about the Glines Canyon dam removal. They've taken out some of the above-lake-level concrete, but I think that's about it (at least last weekend when I dropped off my bike). There are cloth covered fences right by the Whiskey Bend Rd. to keep you from seeing anything, and you couldn't see much anyway, even if you cut through it or peer over it. There are ropes strung through the trees on either side to keep you away from even the lakeshore. Without going under those ropes, there is really nothing visible at all - the best you can do is catch a glimpse looking through the trees down-lake from far up the road. I'm not sure why the park service seems to need to keep people from even seeing anything - I don't think the lake shore 200 yards from the dam will be getting any more dangerous than it has been for the last year - just some possibly slippery mud. There are already some "social trails" around the barriers, but I've heard the park service even has cameras in the woods some more remote places than this. They have also posted a closure sign on the "Lake Mills 0.4 mi" trail near Whiskey Bend, but that seems to be all. That, of course, would be the place to go to see the most fascinating changes as the river eats down through the old delta. How the delta changed over last winter alone was pretty impressive - and for whatever reason you were allowed to watch that.