Queets Trail Length 15.4 mi/24.8 km Access Queets River Road USGS Maps Stequateho; Salmon River East; Kloochman Rock; Bob Creek Agency Olympic National Park This valley trail was originally a path used by the Indians when they traveled up the Queets River to hunt elk. Alter George Shaube took a claim on the upper Queets in the early 1920s; he improved and maintained the trail for the Forest Service. The trail follows the Queets River about halfway to its headwaters. The Queets Basin, at the valley's head, can be reached by traveling cross-country beyond the trail's end, but it is approached more easily from other directions. The trail begins on the river's north bank, opposite the end of the Queets River Road (280 ft/85 m). Consequently, in order to reach the trail one must ford the Queets (and sometimes the Sams as well, because the best place to cross varies from year to year). The river can be forded safely in late summer or autumn, after the snows have melted and before the fall rains have begun; but at other times it is deep and treacherous. The hiker should carry a couple of stout poles (one in each hand, to brace against the current) and wear boots or tennis shoes with rough soles because the current is swift and strong, the water cold, and the bottom covered with slippery rocks. The almost level trail meanders through splendid rain forests where giant spruce, hemlock, and bigleaf maples garlanded with mosses tower above a jungle of vine maple. Elk frequent the valley, grazing in the forest glades, and often the hiker can hear the bugling of the bulls. The trail crosses a field overgrown with bracken fern and thistle, where a large barn (1.6 mi/2.6 km; 375 ft/114 m) stood for many years, but finally succumbed to the elements. This was the John Andrews ranch, originally the Hunter homestead. Kloochman Rock is visible from the field, appearing as a dark knob perched atop a steep, timbered mountain. The trail then winds among bell-bottomed spruces to a junction with the Kloochman Rock Trail at Coal Creek (2.3 mi/3.7 km; 350 ft/ 107 m). At the Lower Tshletshy Ford (3.9 mi/6.3 km; 400 ft/122 m), the river may be crossed, but the Tshletshy Creek Trail is still more than a mile distant. The Queets Trail now turns north and traverses dense forest to Spruce Bottom (4.9 mi/7.9 km; 426 ft/130 m), a camp located among big spruce trees. This is a popular spot with backpackers, and dedicated fishermen have been known to catch large steelhead in the deep pools. Although the distance from the road is not great, the place is isolated because many people are afraid to ford the river. The quiet is unbroken save for the mesmeric roar of the Queets. The trail then follows a slope high above the Queets, only to return to the bottom land and a junction with the Tshletshy Creek Trail (5.6 mi/9.0 km; 480 ft/ 146 m), which leads to the Upper Tshletshy Ford. After climbing up and down as it crosses spurs at the base of Kloochman Rock, the trail closely follows the Queets River and once again traverses level bottomland. Here the path meanders among grotesque big leaf maples festooned with mosses. The trail crosses Bear Creek, skirts the gravel bars opposite Tshletshy Creek, then enters Harlow Bottom (7.5 mi/12.1 km; 500 ft/152 m), which was named for two Indians, Frank and Ben Harlow. This flat, embracing perhaps 1200 acres, extends along the river about 3 miles, almost to Bob Creek, and has a maximum width approaching a mile. Harlow Creek, one of the larger streams entering the Queets from the north, flows across the middle. The bottom has splendid stands of Sitka spruce (perhaps the finest on the peninsula today), as well as large Douglas fir and red cedar. The trees rise above an under story of alder and maple (both vine and big leaf) cloaked with heavy growths of selaginella, ferns, and mosses. Most of the conifers are 6 to 9 feet in diameter, with heights that approach 300 feet. The largest ones are about 13 feet in diameter. The trail leaves Harlow Bottom after crossing Camp Creek. At Bob Creek Camp (11.0 mi/17.7 km; 580 ft/177 m), the shelter built in 1929 by Wilbur Northup and George Shaube was destroyed by snow in the late 1970s. The flood plain on the rivers north side narrows above this camp, and the trail cuts along the face of a bluff, then switchbacks down to the stream, only to climb another bluff. The river washes against its base, where deposits of glacial outwash are exposed. The bottomland widens again in the vicinity of Paradise Creek, and the trail ends at Pelton Creek Shelter (15.4 mi/24.8 km; 800 ft/244 m), which stands opposite the point where Pelton Creek flows into the Quests from the south. One can, of course, proceed beyond the trail's end. This is an exciting route to approach Mount Olympus, but only experienced, well-equipped backpackers adept at cross-country travel should attempt it.