Notch Pass, Lower Big Quilcene River — Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

I pushed well out of my envelope of comfort by driving PAST Mount Walker. Unconsciously I had set Mount Walker as the northern limit of my dayhiking range. It was good to get out of my comfort zone! I drove straight to the trailhead but I did not see the trailhead and continued to drive down the road until I could go no further in my car. Then I turned around and drove right past the trail head a second time. I then drove down Penny Creek road looking for the trail and then I gave up and headed for the lower Quilcene trail. But a small tree in the middle of the road stopped my progress in my passenger car. The tree would have been no problem to drive over in my Jeep. Then I looked at my GPS and saw that I had my track log on and my track log showed that I had passed the trail (my old topo map shows the original trail and I had marked where a road crosses the original trail as a hiking aid, not as a driving aid). So back down the torn up dirt road I went and there was the trail head. I had been expecting it to be at the end of the road, not on the side of the road and I think that is why I missed it. Thanks to all this confusion I did not get to start my hike until 11pm. I knew I had to make good time if I wanted to get out before dark. I usually like to get out before dark when I am hiking on a trail that is new to me. So I set my turn around time at 3pm at the latest. As I was preparing to leave my car I noticed it was smelling funny.. the smell was antifreeze.. oh no! Had I cracked the radiator one of the three times that I bottomed out my car on the road past the trail? Had one of the rocks I kicked up cracked the radiator? I opened the hood and could tell that the engine was quite hot. I wish the temperature gauge on my dash was accurate. I checked the oil and saw it was just at the fill line. That set my mind at ease. I topped up the oil before I started my hike so I would not forget to do it on the way out. I should top of the coolant too now that I am home. The trail goes up, up and up. It is a nice wide trail that is easy to follow and has a good grade. Just before the pass snow suddenly appeared and got deep fast. The road at the pass was under deep snow After crossing the road at the pass the trail gets really nasty. It drops into a nasty little ravine at this point. The snow was deep and I kept plunging in over the top of my gaiters. There were a lot of trees over the trail and I was not really sure where the trail was. But I pushed on. After the trail crosses the 27 road the snow is mostly gone. The 27 had deep snow too but there was one set of monster truck tracks on the road. I did not have to drop down too far before the snow and blow downs were gone. The big new bridge over the Quilcene hooks the Notch Pass trail to the Big Quilcene trail. At the junction I turned left and went to "Bark Shanty".. well my old topo map shows a shelter there, so It was little bit of a let down to find nothing but a sign there. I brewed my tea on the bench and sat by the river and drank it. If I do this hike again I will have my lunch near the bridge. I headed back towards my car at 3pm and made it to my car at 5:35, that was just 5 minutes after sunset but well before dark. On the way out my car slid into the ditch. The mud on the road is quite slick. My front right tire was firmly in the ditch and I thought I was SOL. Luckily I was able to rocket my car out of the ditch in reverse with one foot on the brake an one foot on the gas. It only took one try to get out of the ditch.. whew.. Technically the road is passible in a passenger car. I saved about $11 in gas money by taking my car instead of my Jeep. Lots of pretty pictures and details on my blog: http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2013/02/notch-pass-east-to-bark-shanty.html