By Bret Wirta-The Incidental Explorer

Distance: 10 mile round-trip – Time out: 5 hours

Degree of Difficulty: 1 – Pet Friendly: Yes

April 25th 2012.

Gold Creek isn’t a destination hike. Most of the beauty occurred during the first half hour of the hike along the Dungeness River and Gold Creek. But the trail provides some nice views of the ridges and mountain peaks as it leaves the valley floor. The problem is that Gold Creek didn’t start out as its own trail. The Gold Creek trail used to be the beginning of the trail to the Tubal Cain Mine, but when the National Forest Service built road #2870 it cut the trail in half. The interesting half of the trail, the Tubal Cain Mine Trail, now begins on the other side of the road where the Gold Creek trail ends. It’s kind of like taking a nice four-course meal and serving two courses one night and then two the other. The appetizer and salad will be tasty, but it won’t be as hearty a meal as the main course and dessert and certainly not as nice as if you ate them all together.

I was hiking with the Klahhane Club again. I enjoy this group of hikers. The Klahhanes hike at regular times during the week all year long. They are friendly, engaging and very organized. They carry walkie-talkies on the hike and have a car pool system that minimizes the number of vehicles at the trailheads.

We began our hike at the Gold Creek trail parking area by strolling downhill. We crossed the Dungeness River on a bridge built for cars that no longer travel through this part of the forest. On the other side of the river the Gold Creek trail began. The beginning of the hike was through a lowland forest parallel to the Dungeness River. Moss and moisture coated the valley. The trail turned and headed upstream along one the Dungeness River’s tributaries, Gold Creek.

We stopped at where the trail crossed Gold Creek on a log. High water must have spun the log bridge just a little because the railing was tilted slightly outward. The log wasn’t quite large enough to walk across without the aid of the railing, but to use the railing for balance you had to lean downward, poke your butt skyward and shuffle along the log. There was plenty of laughing and joking. It as an awkward and slow crossing, but at least but nobody fell in.

While I waited for my turn to cross the log, I looked at the overhang above me. There was moss, ferns, shrubs and cedar trees all entwined on the cliff face. Just where the forest floor ended, cliff started and sky began was difficult to tell among the riotous greenery.

The trail was steep leaving the valley but soon it leveled out. I stopped for some photos and the group hiked on ahead of me. I walked slowly, alone in the forest. At a recent Washington’s National Parks Fund event former Governor and US Senator Dan Evans spoke about our national parks as places where we can be alone with the world as it once was. I understand what he was saying. Thoughts come easy on the trail; not necessarily profound thoughts, but being unplugged in the woods provides space to remember good times. The solitude of the forest is my time machine.

The worries of the world are replaced by wonderful memories like reading a book by candlelight in a tiny tent with my wife-to-be, hiking with our children in Montana while they pretended to be Pocahontas and John Smith, or my own youth, with my brother and friends in the forests of our New Hampshire home.

We crossed a log bridge at Sleepy Hollow Creek. (Who named it and why?) A bird trilled in the trees above us. I recorded it. We couldn’t see it but John, one of the Klahhane’s, said it was a Pacific Wren. It was the only birdsong I heard during the entire hike. Later when we returned, I tried to match what I heard to wren birdsong on the internet. The call I heard on the trail seemed to more closely match the Winter Wren. If there is a birder out there who can set me straight, I’d appreciate it.

We climbed steadily and at noon we reached a small waterfall. It was a good place to turn around and stop for lunch. We were at 2,750 feet of elevation according to John’s GPS. Nobody in our group felt the need to keep going to the end of the trail which simply dumped you out at a forest service road.

On the way back down we looked at the then metal numbered bands nailed to some of the trees along the trail. We speculated on their purpose. When I returned I showed a picture of the tag to Patti, a friend and Olympic National Park biologist. She asked her friends in the Forest Service. Patti said, “The tags are apparently old trail survey markers. The one in the picture basically says that the spot is 19,070ft from the trailhead.” With GPS you won’t be seeing these markers being added to the trail anytime soon.

To get to the Gold Creek trailhead from the Holiday Inn Express and Conference Center, Sequim:

• Head east on Highway 101 for 1 mile to Palo Alto Road
• Drive on Palo Alto Road for 2 miles to Forest Service Road 28 and continue to the intersection with FS Road 2880.
• Turn onto FS Road 2880, (steep road, not recommended for trailers)
• Drive past Dungeness Forks Campground
• Stay left onto Road 2870
• Turn left onto Road 2870-230 and drive to trailhead at end of road.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Audio/Video, Author, Bret Wirta, Bret Wirta, Hike Difficulty Rating, Pet Friendly, Spring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.