Road to Notch Pass, as previously mentionedin other reports, has many large potholes, so I would recommend no low riding vehicles. Pass trail is in good shape with a few fallen trees across it that are easy step-overs. At 1900' feet you'll need to hop over a couple of trees, but no problem.

One the lower Big Quilcene, Bark Shanty Camp is in a beautiful grove of huge old growth trees with 6 or  so sites close to each other and right next to the river. Next camp upstream is Jolly Cr. Camp. There is one very large camp site on the east side of the creek, but with very little level ground for a tent. But, I made it work for my overnighter. On the west side of the creek are five level sites, closely spaced and right next to the river and creek. I choose not to use these sites as the rapids in the Quilcene made it noisier than I wanted for a good nights sleep ( I am a very soft sleeper). The trail is in great shape with no obstacles.

Upper Quilcene has a fir tree that has fallen along the trail (2900') that requires you to walk through the branches and finally over the trunk. It is not difficult to do as the path has been trampled down considerably. There is a single campsite at about 3500' and at 3700'. The latter, I think, being Shelter Rock Camp. A large area void of underbrush but only one flat space for a tent that I saw. Very shorty after Big Rock Shelter and crossing a creek bridge you will run into heavy snow. I hiked up to 3850' to see if there were areas of clear trail. But no, it is solid snow so I turned around.

Flowers- I only saw one rhododendron starting to bloom near the beginning of Notch Pass, so it is still a little early to see them in flower. Plenty of Trillium, which are in better shape the higher up you go. Saw a few Calypso orchids, twisted stalks and false solomon's seal in bloom. Lots of yellow violets. All in all, a pretty hike with large trees and beautiful green mosses and lichens along the trail.

Forest Road 10 is clear of snow but has massive potholes filled with water that span the whole road in places, so I suggest skipping this route unless you have a high clearance vehicle. I was happy to nab the second of two parking spaces across from the trailhead which will be on your left - the sign's easy to miss unless you're looking upwards a bit. The trail was in pretty good condition with the exception of some blown down trees which were easy to get around. There was some snow on the trail just before crossing Road 100 but it was passable without microspikes, however some spots were packed down and slick so proceed with caution. Likewise the log bridges were quite slippery with a thin coat of invisible ice. I turned around at a little shy of 4 miles, at the third log bridge which looks like its railing was damaged by a downed tree but otherwise seems fine. This trail doesn't offer any viewpoints but there are plenty of awesome trees, mosses, and rhododendrons (not in bloom yet) to enjoy. I did this hike with a 25 lb. pack and it took me about 4.25 hours to complete.

I led an amazing WTA crew on Notch Pass 2 and 3, whereby our only mission was to finish clearing the trail using chainsaws (WTA led a crosscut saw group on Notch 1 the previous weekend). This was a fabulous opportunity to give some new sawyers on my crew the experience they needed. I sent one crew of three up Notch 2 and then, when that was done, to start working down Notch 3. Meanwhile, we as a crew of 4 went down to about 1/4 mile from the Quil intersection to remove a tangle of trees that had come down in a pile. It took us 2 hours just to clear the branches and debris well enough to even be able to analyze what we were working with and how we would clear it safely. 

Anyway, long story short, it's cleaned up. We left one overhead log partly due to time but more due to the fact that this is NOT listed as a stock trail and one of our sawyers, who is 6'-2" can walk under it without ducking and with plenty of room to spare. So we realized that if we cut that tree out it would be with the objective of having fun and gaining more experience, not actually clearing the trail. And it was starting to pour and the heavy winds of last weekend were beginning AND it was getting later into the afternoon with an uphill hike out in front of us. Safety first and always keep the objective in mind. 

Our team cleared a lot of stuff from Notch 3 all the way up and down the trail. This included a tree that crashed on the lower footlog. The log is not damaged, fortunately, but the tree smashed the handrail. So hike that log with care until a future WTA crew can get in there to fix the handrail. There is one other spot, right at the end of the middle footlog, where a tree fell away from the trail and took the tread with it. Also will be repaired by WTA in the future, but not difficult to navigate it even as is.  

Spent last Saturday as part of a WTA crew which cleared the trees which were blocking the trail in section 1.  (from the Quilcene trailhead up to FS Road 100)  A crew will be out next weekend to work on the remainder of the trail.

I've been doing the full Notch Trail for more than 20 years and have never seen it in as bad of condition as I did today. Road to the lower TH is as usual - full of deep potholes but otherwise fine. I was concerned that with all the storms, rain, it would have been washed out or trees still down.

All 3 sections of this trail had significant blowdowns. Some were of trees breaking, some were entire huge trees uprooted and completely obscuring trail.

Both FS 100 and 27 still in deep, consolidated, icy snow. a large tree has come down over the last footbridge on the lower section before you get to the Lower Big Quil/Notch junction. Spikes were essential to cross the bridges. Hold off coming here unless you know the trail well, can navigate, and limber enough to get up, over, under, through a lot of vegetation. The only washout was just after the (newest) log bridge but not too bad getting around.

I gave it 4 stars for the adventure.