COLONEL BOB TRAIL

Length 7.2 mi/11.6 km
Access South Shore Road
USGS Maps Lake Quinault East; Colonel Bob
Agency Olympic National Forest

Mount Colonel Bob is the highest of four peaks clustered together about 5 
miles east of Lake Quinault and south of the Quinault River. The name McCallas 
Peak-for John McCalla, one of the first settlers on the lake-was given in 1890 
to one or perhaps all four peaks (considered as one), consisting of Mount 
O'Neil, Colonel Bob, Gibson Peak, and Wooded Peak. Colonel Bob was named later 
for the noted nineteenth-century agnostic Robert Ingersoll; Mount O'Neil, so 
named in 1932 for Lieutenant Joseph P. O'Neil, leader of the O'Neil Expeditions, 
was formerly called Baldy.

This collection of peaks forms part of the south slope of the Quinault Valley, 
between the lake and the national park. The beautifully timbered mountains rise 
4000-ft/1219 m above the bottomlands along the river. This area is now protected 
because it is within the Colonel Bob Wilderness, which was established in 1984.

The trailhead (230 ft/70 m), located on the South Shore Road, 6.0 mi/9.7kn from 
US 101, was severely damaged by a slide in the 1980s. The terrain is steep, and 
the trail begins to climb at once through conifer forests, where the undergrowth 
is mostly sword and maidenhair ferns. Mixed with the slender hemlocks are huge 
firs and cedars. Higher up the slope, some of the large trees has been scarred by 
fire. The big trees are survivors of a former stand; the younger hemlocks have 
grown up since the fire.

The trail climbs steadily, paralleling Ziegler Creek, which can be heard below, 
to the right. As the path switchbacks up the mountain, the Douglas fir gradually 
disappears, replaced by silver fir. Big rocks covered with mosses and ferns lie 
scattered through the forest.

Mulkey Shelter (4.0 mi/6.4 km; 2160 ft/658 m) is located in a marshy, jungled 
area infested with mosquitoes; therefore, one would be better advised to camp 
farther on at Moonshine Flats. The Civilian Conservation Corps constructed the 
shelter in the 1930s to replace a cabin built about 1910 by Mart H. and Purl 
Mulkey. The brothers had a trap line that extended from the Colonel Bob area to 
Bunch Lake, where they had another cabin.

Making about a dozen switchbacks, the trail climbs sharply to Quinault Ridge 
(3200 ft/975 m). Here the terrain falls away sharply on both sides, and the forest 
is mostly western hemlock and silver fir. Now comes a disconcerting feature-the 
trail zigzags down, losing considerable elevation, before traversing beneath a 
rock cliff, where it crosses avalanche tracks.

Beyond the junction with the Upper Petes Creek Trail (5.5 mi/8.9 km; 3300 ft/ 
1006 m), the route is devious, and unless one knows the way it is difficult to 
follow when covered with snow. The trail emerges from the deep forest and enters 
more or less open country. A cliff rises to the left. Looking ahead one can see 
a huge talus cone or slide on Gibson Peak. The trail is now rocky, not smooth 
like it was in the forest, and it crosses a little basin, where big boulders lie 
strewn helter-skelter. The tall grasses wave in the wind, accompanied by its 
murmur in the trees on the ridge. Wildflowers bloom profusely, mingled with 
smooth slabbed rock outcrops. Here one will note daisies, lupine, thistles, 
Columbia lilies, arnica, and pearly everlasting.

Beyond this point the trail might well be called Salmonberry Lane. During the 
next half-mile or so the path is bordered by a rank growth of the bushes. When 
the sweet, delicious berries ripen-usually around mid-August at this altitude-they 
are abundant, and the hiker is apt to linger and feast on the fruit.

Leaving the switchbacks and salmonberries, the footpath climbs to a gap (3700 ft/ 
1128 m. The gap looks out over Fletcher Canyon to the peaks beyond the Quinault. 
The trail now veers to the left and descends to Moonshine Flats (6.3 mi/10.1 km; 
3500 ft/ 1067 m). This subalpine basin lies between Colonel Bob and Gibson Peak, 
at the head of the canyon. Large boulders are scattered about, intermingled with 
beargrass, heather, and huckleberry. A campsite is located beside Fletcher Creek, 
which flows over a bed of living rock. The vegetation is typical of the Subalpine 
Zone; the trees are chiefly mountain hemlock and Alaska cedar.

Beyond the camp the trail crosses the creek twice, then climbs steeply as it traverses 
beneath dark basalt cliffs and switchbacks up to the ridge, where the wind often 
howls in the hemlocks. Here one can look both north and south. The trail angles back 
east, beneath Colonel Bob, to a saddle above a rocky basin, beyond which raises a 
three-humped mountain. The last 100 feet lead up a rock face, via steps hacked in 
the rock, to the summit of Colonel Bob (7.2 mi/11.6 km; 4492ft/ 1369 m).

The Forest Service built a fire lookout cabin on the top of this peak in 1932, but 
it was removed in 1967. Here one has an outstanding, unobstructed vista of the Quinault 
country-the lake, river, valley, timbered foothills, and snowy peaks to the north 
and east. Mount Olympus is visible on the skyline. The view to the south encompasses 
ridge after ridge, heavily forested but scarred by numerous clearcuts.

The summit is a pleasant place to spend some time on a warm, sunny day. The squawking 
of ravens in the forest below is the only sound heard above the whisper of the wind, 
and one feels far removed from the frenetic rush of civilization.

The impressive spire (ca. 4175 ft/1273 m) rising midway along the ridge between Colonel 
Bob and Baldy, or Mount O'Neil, is known as Mikes Spike. George A. Bauer and the 
late Mike Lonac spotted the pinnacle in 1974, and Lonac later made the first ascent. 
Climbers can reach it by leaving the trail near the base of the final peak and 
traveling cross-country about 200 yards.