Lower Big Quilcene River — Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2026

This is one of the great river hikes in the Hood Canal side of the Olys, the trail is gentle and wide with little in the way of rocks or roots and a pleasure to hike! There are no views, the river is the feature, you are within sight and sound of it the whole hike. We followed the trail all the way into Camp Jolly, which is unsigned, but is left by the river right after the broken bridge. The stream crossing is a bit tricky, I lost my footing and fell in, and one of the other grandmas fell in on the way out. Which begs the question, maybe we are getting too old for this kind of shenanigans, but old hikers can be a bit ornery. On the way out I just waded across and dealt with wet boots and socks for the rest of the hike. No flowers out at all just yet, except one budded trillium and a few coltsfoot close to the TH. We got about 11 miles RT, but if this is more hike than you want, stop at Bark Shanty just under 3 miles in just before a bridge crossing. We had the trail to ourselves, meeting only 2 other hikers on the way out. The road going in was good, WTA directions were spot on, I would advise using them as there is a lot of roads and gps may not be reliable. Loo locked and had a blue tarp over the roof so there must be some damage, not a good sign for the future.