NORTH FORK QUINAULT TRAIL Length 16.4 mi/26.4 km Access North Shore Road USGS Maps Bunch Lake; Mount Hoquiam: Mount Christie; Kimta Peak Agency Olympic National Park An up-and-down route, this arterial trail begins at the North Fork Ranger Station (520 ft/158 m) and follows the North Fork Quinault to Low Divide, the pass between the Quinault and Elwha Rivers. Most of the way the route goes through stands of virgin timber. Above Rustler Creek, the tortuous, twisting river flows almost continuously through a series of narrow canyons. Hikers should take note that in some respects the North Fork Quinault Trail is more or less unique. In following this stream to Low Divide, one necessarily crosses several swift rollicking tributaries, as well as the river itself about halfway up the valley at Sixteen Mile Camp. This area is subject to heavy winter rains; as a consequence floods occasionally destroy the bridges that span the tributaries. The bridges do not always get rebuilt immediately, confronting those hiking up or down the valley with several difficult, dangerous crossings. Before starting out, one is well advised to contact the National Park Service and inquire as to the current status of the various creeks-whether they are bridged or unbridged. The trail at first utilizes an abandoned, almost obliterated road bordered by splendid stands of fir, cedar, hemlock, and spruce. This rain forest has an under-story of moss-draped big leaf and vine maple, and a luxuriant growth of ground plants. The old roadbed ends at Wolf Bar (2.5 mi/4.0 km; 630 ft/192 m), a camp located on the riverbank among deciduous trees and a vigorous stand of young fir. Beyond this camp the trail leaves the level bottomlands and traverses terraces above the North Fork, opposite the confluence of Rustler Creek (4.0 mi/ 6.4 km; 700 ft/213 m), which flows into the North Fork from the east. The forest is now mostly western hemlock, and the trail traverses broken country, climbing over spurs that come down to the river at right angles between side streams. Frequently, especially after heavy rains or rapid snowmelt in the high country, the smaller mountainside streams flow down portions of the trail, eroding it into a rocky channel that is sometimes a foot or more deep. Halfway House (5.2 mi/8.4 km; 800 ft/244 m), now a trailside camp, was formerly the site of a lodge operated by the Olympic Chalet Company in the 1920s and 1930s. The building was located midway between Voorhies' packing station (near Fletcher Creek, where the South Shore Road then ended) and Low Divide. At that time the North Fork Trail was approached via the South Shore Road, and the traveler first had to cross the river in a canoe to Bunch's Ranch. Halfway House was later used as a trail shelter, but no sign of the building is present today. Beyond this camp the trail follows a big curve of the Quinault for several miles. Here the river flows through a narrow canyon, and the path ascends and descends in order to cross half-dozen tributary creeks, which flow in steep, narrow gorges lined with devil's club and salmonberry. The first two creeks are Squaw and Elip. A good camp is located on the north bank of the latter (6.4 mi/10.3 km; 900 ft/ 274 m). The trail then climbs sharply, shaded by lowering firs, to a junction with the Elip Creek Trail (6.5 mi/10.5 km: 1060 ft/323 m). Then follow in rapid succession the next four streams-Three Prune, Francis, Stalding, and Kimta. Three Prune Creek received its name in 1913 during the summer outing of the Mountaineers. The hikers arrived on schedule but the- pack train did not, with the result that each person received three prunes for dinner. A campsite is located at Francis Creek (7.0 mi/11.3 km; 1100 ft/335 m) on the site of a former shelter. Kimta Creek, one of the larger streams, was the point where an 1890 scouting party led by Lieutenant Joseph O'Neil left the Quinault and climbed to the Queets-Quinault Divide. Beyond Kimta Creek the trail goes by the site where Jasper Bunch, a Quinault pioneer, had a cabin that he used as a wilderness retreat. He lived on a ranch near the forks of the Quinault, and Bunch Lake and Bunch Canyon commemorate his name. The trail now heads to the northeast, following a big curve of the river. Trapper Shelter (8.5 mi/13.7 km; 1200 ft/366 m) is located in a stand of dense forest. The trail then crosses Rock Slide Creek, which flows down the southern side of Mount Zindorf. Beyond this point the canyon becomes increasingly precipitous, and a large landslide can be viewed on the slopes of Mount Lawson. This peak was named Mount Grady by the Press Expedition, but some time later the name-Mount Lawson (which the expedition gave to a different peak) was shifted to this mountain. The trail comes out to the banks of the Quinault, and then reenters the forest at Twelve Mile Shelter (11.5 mi/18.5 km; 1800 ft/549 m). Beyond the point where Geoduck Creek flows into the Quinault, the trail turns north and crosses the North Fork at Sixteen Mile Camp (12.3 mi/19.8 km; 2000 ft/610 m). A large log that spanned the river here was utilized for years by hikers as a bridge, but it, too, was swept away by recent floods and has not been replaced. Consequently, the river is impassable at this point during periods of heavy rainfall, and the crossing should not be attempted at such times. (A rope stretched across the river here is helpful only when the North Fork is low, not when it is high.) The name Sixteen Mile Camp refers to the fact that this crossing is sixteen miles from the forks of the Quinault, where the trailhead was located in the 1930s. Beyond Glacier Creek (14.4 mi/23.2 km; 2800 ft/853 m), which tumbles down from a glacier on Mount Christie, the trail climbs sharply for about a half mile. At this point the terrain becomes less precipitous, and the trail crosses forest- rimmed meadowland to a junction with the Skyline Trail (15.9 mi/25.6 km; 3550 ft/ 1082 m). Mount Zindorf is visible from this point, its sharp, snow-crowned crest standing directly in the line of sight down the Quinault Valley. The path then goes through a narrow band of trees to Renegade or Low Divide Shelter (16.1 mi/ 25.9 km; 3560 ft/1085 m), located at the southwest edge of the big meadow at Low Divide- or Lode of Ide, to use the delightful spelling a shorthand reporter mistakenly gave it in the transcript of a congressional hearing regarding establishment of the national park. (By the same token, perhaps the High Divide could be called the Hide of Ide.) On both sides of this flat, U-shaped saddle, which resulted from glacier carving, the forest-clad slopes rise abruptly to rugged, snowy heights-to Mount Seattle on the northwest, to Mount Christie on the southeast-but the peaks are lost to view behind spurs and buttresses. This meadow, the only bit of high country on the popular traverse across the Olympics via the Elwha and North Fork Quinault, is not truly subalpine. In fact, the thick growths of willow bordering the streams are spreading, threatening to engulf the grassy expanse, which is surrounded by stands of mountain hemlock, silver fir, and Alaska cedar. The trail meanders over the level meadow and crosses the Quinault. Here, close to its source, the willow-fringed stream is little more than a brook. The Low Divide Ranger Station (16.4 mi/26.4 km; 3602 ft/1098 m), manned only during the summer, stands beside a forest backdrop at the meadow's edge. Nearby are remnants of Low Divide Chalet, a lodge that catered to pack train parties. The building was destroyed many years ago by an avalanche that swept down Mount Seattle. The Press Expedition was the first party to cross Low Divide. The explorers, who accomplished the feat in May 1890, when the pass was snowbound, were saved from starvation when they shot several bears while encamped here. Charles A. Barnes, the expedition's deputy leader, climbed almost to the top of Mount Seattle, to a point where he could see Mount Olympus and the Hoh Canyon. Beyond the ranger station the route is known as the Low Divide Trail.