Pete's Creek - Colonel Bob Peak

This peak allows for unrivaled views of the Olympic Peninsula. Located on the southwest side of the park, views include the Pacific Ocean, Grays Harbor, Lake Quinault and the Quinault River, the Olympic rainforest and Mount Olympus.

On a clear day, this rugged peak is the perfect place to sit and watch the world below. High above the Quinault River Valley, it is easy to drift away to hundreds of years ago, as many of the sights you see are mostly unchanged. An adventure to climb a rugged, isolated mountain in the Pacific Northwest should be done by all, and Colonel Bob Peak is the perfect mountain for it.

With a steady four mile climb, the top of the mountain arrives out of nowhere, bringing pleasures to your eyes that cancel out the tiredness of your legs. The climb itself can be pretty enough, but the moment you summit, the view is spectacular.

The trail is mostly in fairly dense conifer forest, including Sitka spruce, Douglas-fir, Pacific silver fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar. Most of the trail is in the Colonel Bob Wilderness, which has temperate rain forest conditions with an annual precipitation of more than 150 inches.

This precipitation means lots of fern, moss, Douglas maple, fungus, salmonberry, huckleberry, wildflowers, and things growing off every surface, including the surface of other growing things.

Just shy of two miles and 3,000 feet, Pete’s Creek trail intersects with the Colonel Bob Trail 851, which has traveled 5.5 miles from from Lake Quinault. Keep right at this intersection to achieve the Colonel Bob summit, 1.8 miles away. Here is where you enter the wildflower switchbacks, sporting copious columbine in season as well as paintbrush, cow parsnip, false Solomon's seal (both types), false hellebore, twisted stalk, bistort, arnica, valerian, stonecrop, vetch, and more.

After switchbacking up through this slide area and into the woods for another total 800 feet or so, the trail drops steeply and quickly to Moonshine Flats.

At right around 3.2 miles and 3,500 feet, Moonshine Flats has several viable, dispersed campsites. Many of these are in wet or boggy areas in rainy season, but there are several dry alternatives on rock if you don’t need stakes. If camping here, you'll want to expect to use a campstove.