This is one of my favorite hikes in the early Spring as it is GREAT EXERCISE (up and down and down and up and down), snow-free when other trails nearby are not, and few people on it. We hiked this trail in mid-Jan (see past report) and while all the same large trees are still down across the trail (but fairly easily gotten around), the smaller ones have been removed. The BIG change is the footlog across Townsend Creek on lower Notch 3 has collapsed! This was a WTA project in 2010 and sadly the log was not in prime shape then and has rotted away fairly quickly. I do not believe this log is safe to cross the creek at this point. Please be very careful. The creek is running swiftly, there are logjams down stream, the collapsed bridge is steep and slippery - just no!

It still is a great hike - 8 miles of ups and downs that will work on getting your legs in shape for this hiking season! We met 3 other folks on the trail, and trilliums in full bloom at the lower elevation on Notch 1. 

We walked down the Lower Notch Pass Trail, parking on FS Road 27, taking the Lower Notch Pass Trail down to the Big Quilcene River. Some of us went back to the car, others walked out to Lower Big Quil trailhead and rendezvoused. 

Beautiful spring hike, much water flowing. Several trees down on Notch Pass portion, climbable or crawling under. Much more troublesome is the long log bridge crossing Allen Creek. It has rotted and cracked at about the one-third point (coming down from the car). We managed to cross, but it's dicey and who knows how long it will stay in this form. The trail out to the trailhead from Bark Shanty is in great shape.

We started at Notch 1 TH and hiked to the Townsend Creek bridge on Notch 3 and back (8 miles, 5 hrs) - GREAT EXERCISE! There are at least 12 trees across the trails, Notch 2 having only 1 small tree across it, but all are fairly easy to get over or under or in one root ball mess around. The foot logs on Notch 3 were VERY ICY - tread carefully. Beautiful hair ice on both Notch 2 and Notch 3. The road into the Notch 1 TH is in terrible shape after the new-ish logging road veers off. There are LARGE holes filled with water.

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.

Did not finish as I freaked myself out with how isolated and overgrown it looked. Convinced myself I saw a mountain lion and noped out of there. What I did complete was beautiful, but physically demanding as the incline is steep.