Lower Big Quilcene Trail

We do a lot of hiking in the Olympic National Forest but had never ventured up as far as the Lower Big Quilcene Trail. It was 2 hours from home to the trailhead.

The trail is another very pretty trail in the Olympics. There is nothing like a walk through an old growth forest to reset your life-o-meter. Since there wasn't much elevation gain in the hike - 1986 feet total - we took it at a quick pace. We didn't have a set goal which is fine because the trail is an out and back.

We made Camp Jolley in less than  1.5 hours and decided to make for Ten Mile Shelter - 6.5 miles out - before turning back. We arrived at Ten Mile in 2 hours and headed back down. It was beginning to rain so we kept the pace up and even jogged a little which is interesting with a 25 lb daypack on, but we stayed ahead of most of the rain.

We even had time to stop and talk to some Volksmarchers who were on their way up the trail. We arrived back at the car in 4 hours total and logged 13.05 miles and 1986 feet of elevation.

This trail meets up with the Big Quilcene Trail at Ten Mile Shelter and heads up to Marmot Pass and beyond. Next time we might take the upper trailhead and hike Marmot Pass. There are tons of backpacking possibilities in this section as well.

Be very well and more soon....