Duckabush River — Sunday, May. 25, 2003

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

Duckabush River Trail The Duckabush is a low elevation river valley trail in the eastern Olympic mountains. We found it to be a well engineered trail through mostly old forest, with lots of flowers and wildlife, a few mountain views and a powerful river. Other than a big upturned rootball and hole in the ground at about 3 miles the trail is unimpeded by any obstacles. Not very crowded either for a holiday weekend. Five mile camp was our lunch and loafing turnaround point. We shared it with one other small party. This was the smallest Mountaineers group that I have hiked with but it featured 3 naturalists out of the 4 of us . Duckabush trail features Big Hump and Little Hump, two glacier created foothills that must be surmounted. The trail loses most of the elevation gained after each. So .. up and down, up and down. 2500 ft. gross elevation gain for the day but only 800 ft higher at Five Mile camp than at the trailhead. Peak elevation is 1750 ft. at the top of Big Hump. The forest is old 2nd growth for the first 2.5 miles, and then becomes very big old growth from Big Hump on. A portion of Big Hump was burned (perhaps 50 years ago?) and has a mix of young trees and giants. Forest flowers bloomed all along our route, 24 early varieties scattered here and there . New species attracting our attention every few minutes. Birds sang and our ornithologist identified them almost at first note ! We found some interesting tracks in a patch of mud and then encountered the llamas who made them, and their pet humans. Several snakes showed up in steep sunny locations. All in all an outstanding flora and fauna outing. There is a good campspot next to the river at 2.5 miles just before Big Hump. But Five Mile camp is much the better spot for lunching, resting or camping. It is on the riverside in large fir and cedar timber with plenty of space to relax and spread out. Here the river is dropping thru rapids and a waterfull as it approaches a bend. It is a very beautiful spot. Directions: drive 15 miles south of Quilcene on US101 to the Duckabush road and turn right. 3 miles of pavement and 3 miles of gravel get you to the trailhead at 400 ft. After 1 mile the trail is in The Brothers Wilderness. Stats: 10 miles, 2500 ft. elev. 3:10 in 2:40 min. out -------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Robert Michelson 5-26-2003