A friend of mine and I hiked this trail Saturday June 2, although we started at the end because I couldn't find any signs leading to the beginning. We started out around 10:30am and made it back round trip around 6:00pm. The trail was in good shape and there weren't any problems as far as blowdowns. The shelter at river camp looks in good shape and water was available at a couple of places along the trail. All in all, it was a good trail to hike that wasn't too strenous. We passed a group of young kids that might have been a scout troop, as well as two other hikers that day.

Today we did another ""upside down' trail. We began the hike at the upper TH on the 2860 Road and hiked to the shelter which is only about 1.5 miles. This is a beautiful hike along the river and through a beautiful woodland area.There was one blowdown area which was easy to walk around. About .25 miles from the shelter the trail has washed out, but one can get to the trail below the washout with no problem.

See previous description for driving directions. It was snowing in Sequim earlier today, but there was only a couple inches at the highest point of the access roads. Made it to the highest point of the lower trail at about 3 miles and 2800' where the abandoned trail shown on the trailhead map goes off to the right up to the road. Snow depth did not increase going uphill so I would think that one could continue upriver mostly downhill all the way to the upper trailhead at 2500' on the trail (the road to the upper trailhead goes higher and across cliffs so it is probably not passable at this time of year). Good views of the uppper Dungeness valley and across the way from rocky outcroppings. Very few blowdowns big or small in this sheltered valley.

Actually I hiked the former FS road 2860 starting at the end of FS road 2870-230. The end of FS road 2870-230 is the lower trailhead for the Lower Dungeness River trail and the Gold Creek trail. There are a couple of ways to access this trailhead. One is to take highway 101 through Sequim. Just after the bridge over the Dungeness River, turn left on Taylor Cutoff road, continue on Lost Mountain road, turn left on FS road 2870. About ½ mile past the bridge over the Gray Wolf river FS road 2870 Tees into FS road 2880. FS 2870 continues as the right branch of the Tee. Two miles from the Tee, FS 2870-230 is on the left. There are FS mileage signs at the intersection but none to indicate that the road to the left is FS road 2870-230. It’s about 1 ¼ miles on 2870-230 to the end of the road and trailhead. Past the road closed gate is the Gold Creek trail and former road 2860. This trailhead can also be accessed via the Louella road which turns off highway 101 across from Sequim Bay State Park. Then turn left on Palo Alto road which becomes FS 28. Turn right of FS 2880 to the Tee mentioned above. The route via Palo Alto road and FS 2880 is noticeable shorter. However, FS 2880 is somewhat narrow and steep, but not a problem. It’s signed “Not Recommended for Trailers or Motor homes”. The former FS 2860 continues from the end of FS 2870-230 down to the Dungeness River and a concrete road bridge across the river. The Gold Creek trail is unsigned, but turns off to the right about 200’ past the bridge. The former FS 2860 follows the river for about a mile to the former East Crossing campground, then traverses up the side of the valley to connect to FS road 28 about ½ mile south of where FS 2880 turns off. This is another possible trailhead, again only marked by FS mileage signs. The former FS 2860 has been erased on recent FS maps but does show on somewhat older maps. It’s about 3 ¼ miles from the trailhead at the end of FS road 2870-230 to FS road 28. The former FS 2860 road had been bulldozed up to ‘naturalize’ it, but there is a pretty good path all the way. This is a pretty part of the Dungeness River. There are some big trees and interesting cliffs. This makes a nice low elevation, early season hike.

No snow all the way up to Royal Lake. The upper basin is still snow covered. Very busy over Memorial Day weekend!