Olympic Light: Hiking Along the Quinault River

 

Date: July 19, 2021

Place: Olympic National Park, Washington

Coordinates: 47.572792, -123.569638

Length: 3 miles

Level: easy

 

 

 

When I decided to go to Washington State on a road trip with my chikas and their friends during the second summer of the pandemic I certainly had the Olympic National Park in mind. A combination of various constraints however, had resulted in a visit there that left much to be desired. As it turned out the plan of a three day visit to this magnificent National Park has shrunk to a single full day, and our plans for that day were also changed to two fairly short hikes - a beautiful and relaxing beach walk at the gorgeous Kalaloch Beach, and a sunny afternoon hike along the Quinault River. 

The road to the trailhead goes through the Quinault Reservation. Being careful about the pandemics, all businesses and facilities were closed. The trailhead was just outside the eastern boundary of the reservation. Little chickadees were active in the trees there, and that was the only bird that the elder chika photographed on that hike. 

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

 

The Quinault River Trail is long. It leads into the heart of Olympic National Park for people who do a multi-day outing. 

 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

We had no intentions to hike for days. We only had the afternoon of that day and we planned to walk as long as we felt like, then turn around and head back.  

Quinault River

Soon after we started our hike we crossed the south fork of the Quinault River, also called Graves Creek. We paused on the bridge and looked down at the sparkling light pattern in the water. It was almost hypnotizing. 

Past the bridge we continued walking on a clear forest path which was nearly flat. Now Away from the beach, the day was pretty hot so we welcomed the tree shade.   

Quinault River Trail

There were a few wildflowers blooming too. Not many, but enough to keep me happy. Naturally, I paused to look closer and to take photos while the youth moved ahead. 

Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens

Shortly we came upon another creek, a tributary of the Quinault River. The bridge across this creek was a narrow, flattened log with a rail that didn't look very firm. 

The forest closed in on and above us. The air was silent, save for the buzzing of some insects. We didn't hear many birds and saw none. We didn't see any monsters either, but there were plenty of tine white foamflowers blooming below the trees. 

Threeleaf Foamflower, Tiarella trifoliata

The forest undergrowth had many of the little dwarf dogwood relatives called bunchberry. Most of these little plants were in their fruiting stage so it was clear how they got their name.

Western Bunchberry, Cornus unalaschkensis

In places were the trees were more apart and more sunshine came down through the canopies the understory vegetation was larger. Much of it were tall ferns. 

Quinault River Trail

The youth called me over - they nearly stepped on a banana slug that was crossing the path. The banana slugs of the northern Pacific Coast are just as big as their southern counterparts, but don't have the bright yellow 'banana' color. 

Pacific Banana Slug

The slug moved on and so did we. A hole at the base of one of the larger trees drew our attention. We looked inside the hole but didn't see anything of significance inside. 

What we did see a bit later, in a darker area of the forest was much more exciting - it was a small patch of ghost pipe flowers. We've seen these already a few days earlier along the path to Layser Cave, but since these are pretty rare to see as is, I was very glad to see them again. 

Ghost Pipe, Monotropa uniflora

We also came upon larger patches of foamflowers that looked like little clouds that descended to earth. These plants, I noticed, preferred the shadier spots. 

Coastal Brookfoam, Boykinia occidentalis

West Washington gets frequent rains year round. We were there during a sort of a drought. In California that time there was a drought but here we found still evidence of recent rains, even though we didn't experience any during our trip.  

Wing-leaf Monkeyflower, Erythranthe ptilota

Some of these evidence of recent abundance of moisture were the wildflowers that we were seeing. The monkeyflower and the bog orchid for sure - these plants grow in very moist places. 

Slender Bog Orchid, Platanthera stricta

For me and the chikas this was actually the second time to hike the Quinault River Trail. The previous time we were here was 12 years ago, and I remember not having hiked much distance at all - the berry bushes were laden with ripe berries and we passed the time feasting on them. I was hoping to see some berries on our current hike, but all the berry vines were still in bloom and there were no ripe berries to pick. 

Cutleaf Blackberry, Rubus laciniatus

We went on. At some point the youth started wondering aloud how much further we will continue. The sun was still pretty high and so I suggested making it to a mile and a half up the trail before turning back. The kids agreed. 

Quinault River Trail

One of the interesting things to see in old forests is how the dead and decomposing trees becomes a substrate, or sort of 'planter' for numerous other plants. 

Although mostly flat, the trail was going constantly uphill. It's just that the grade was so mild it was hardly noticeable. We did occasionally have a bit more of an uphill stretch. Nothing that caused us to break any extra sweat, though. 

Quinault River Trail

There were more forest undergrowth plants that were done with their blooming phase and were now bearing fruit. Some of these fruit looked no less pretty than the flowers. 

White Twisted Stalk, Streptopus amplexifolius

It wasn't mushroom season at the time of our visit, but we did see fungi on the hike. Mostly, they were the wood bract fungi, and of kinds I don't see much in the Bay Area, but I did see in the northern California Coast. 

Eventually we did find some thimbleberries that had a few berries that were ripe for the picking. Even these plants though, had more flowers than fruit. 

Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus

The taste of berries reminded the chikas that they were hungry so we stopped for a short snack break about 1.5 mile into the trail. The break gave me plenty of time to admire the nearby trees. 

After the break it was time to turn around and start walking back. Going by one of them planter trees again - those dead logs whose rotting bodies feed so many other plants I slowed down to admire this beautiful link in cycle of life of the forest. 

The close up look revealed that most of the area of the dead log was covered by moss. In between were bunchberries, grasses, ferns, and young blackberries. Quite a garden in one small patch of dead wood.

The way back was much quicker, naturally. The youth were hurrying out of the forest as if we were chased by a bear. In fact, I was the one that was trying to keep up. 

Quinault River Trail

I found one straggler bunchberry plant that was blooming. It is the flower that reveals the relations of this tiny plant to the large, majestic dogwood tree. 

Western Bunchberry, Cornus unalaschkensis

Since I already stopped for the bunchberry I took another moment to look at the lovely ferns that grew nearby. 

Deer Fern, Struthiopteris spicant

When we crossed the tributary creek I noticed that a fallen tree that span the creek wasn't dead. It's branches simply continued growing reoriented upward, like independent trees. 

The last stretch of the hike went quickly. We crossed the Quinault River and I stopped briefly to take a last photo. Where the sunshine played with the water earlier, now it was shaded. 

Quinault River

 

 We completed the hike and drove back through the Quinault Reservation and from there we continued south to where our lodge was. The hike at Quinault River was lovely but it wasn't the most impressive face of Olympic National Park. That we didn't get to see on our trip.