Notch Pass — Monday, Dec. 9, 2024

This is one of my favorite trails. Last time we did the whole trail one way, from the lower trailhead ("1st access" according to Gaia) right off of Penny Creek Rd. to the Lower Big Quilcene TH. This time we did out and back starting at the TH in the middle on Townsend Creek Rd. (I think it's FS 27) and going down to the river and then back. That part is just glorious and like a fairy land. Also love the Mosquito Rock! There are a couple bridges past that point and the first one was a little icy already - we managed to get across carefully but decided to put our spikes on when we came back. There was only a bit of snow on the road as we approached the TH, but nothing on the trail yet. We did encounter quite a bit of tree debris due to the recent wind storm, and we cleared quite a bit, but there were several larger trees down as well. Nothing that we couldn't step over though.