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RangerSciacca
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 3:58 am 
I recently did this amazing trip with my sister and a buddy. When planning it, I found that there's not much info available on Godkin Creek, and practically none on Rustler, so I wanted to share the details of our trip here! This trip was September 8-12, 2015. The Quinault River had a flow of about 1000 cubic feet/second as measured at Lake Quinault. Here's a link to a rough map of our route--NOTE: it wasn't necessarily the correct route in a couple places! Mostly we nailed it, and I'll make sure to describe any parts I'd do differently. MAP DAY 1 We started at the N. Fork Quinault TH at about 1pm and went about 3.8 miles upstream--when we were directly across from the confluence with Rustler Creek we headed down to ford the Quinault. We found a good spot about 500ft upstream of the confluence--wide, but slow and mostly just knee-deep with a couple spots up to mid-thigh.
As soon as we were across, we found a beautiful riverside glen--would be a great place to set up camp and explore!
It was easygoing up Rustler for about .75 miles, then it narrowed into a canyon:
We paralleled the river on the right side--eventually we had to go 200-400 feet above the river to get above the cliffs. Despite being perhaps the most well-traveled part of the trip, this might also have been the hardest. Steep side-sloping at times, huge trees to climb over, thick brush, boggy areas, and 3 or 4 steep gullies where it was difficult to find spots to climb safely in and out of them.
We all agreed that the this section was such a pain that we'd be interested to come back someday when the river was running low, and see if it was possible to stay along or close to the Rustler, although it seemed like it might not be, unless you want to go swimming. On the plus side, there were two sets of flagging, which was very helpful in finding a viable path, and quite a few elk tracks which were sometimes helpful, sometimes confounding. Occasionally, in a drier and more protected spot, we could follow the old trail, and it was glorious, though it would usually only last for 50-100ft before disappearing completely into the next blowdown or wet area. Very cool to see it!
At 7:30 as the last light was fading from the sky and it was getting very dark in the woods, we finally reached the creek which flows into the Rustler around river mile 2.6. This creek has a larger and more open track than previous streams, with a lot of rocks, debris, and alders. We made a quick and rocky descent to the Rustler, and found a nice camp spot on an island about 200ft upstream from the stream.
DAY 2 Above this point, it's still canyon for a ways, but the walls aren't quite as steep or high, so following the Rustler was feasible, we just had to cross back and forth many times to keep progressing. We counted 41 fords on the day! For sections like this we wore tennis shoes so we could just walk through the creek and leave them on. The canyon was beautiful with lush mossy walls and aquamarine water.
At about river mile 4.2, a creek comes in from the right, and then the valley opens up to a wide flat floodplain. This was my favorite part of the whole trip--alders hang over the banks and frame views of the surrounding mountains, and it just felt like we had a hidden paradise to ourselves.
It was easy travel along the wide floodplain until river mile 5.8 when the next major creek came in from the right, and the Rustler narrowed again.
Still beautiful though, and it only got more so above the creek at river mile 6.7 that flows down from Mount Christie and the little notch to Martins Park.
From this point, we gained elevation more quickly along the creek. Then it flattened out again--I believe this is the Upper Rustler Flats where several other parties have visited and camped.
At around river mile 8.4 we turned left and headed uphill NE toward Bretherton Pass. We turned uphill a little too soon though--there was a small creek in a very steep and deep ravine that blocked us from Bretherton Pass--the creek was headed too far to the north, and towards steeper and higher terrain than we wanted. We eventually found a way to get into the ravine, cross the creek and get back on the NE heading, but it was a little sketchy. Here's my friend climbing out of the ravine.
Once back on track, we started to hit small meadows with great views to the South.
It was not long before we reached the pass--a very large area of flat meadows--gorgeous in the late evening light!
Before we set up camp, we took a look down at the Godkin--it was a long ways down, and intimidatingly steep!
DAY 3 Despite our worries, we found a great way down. At the north end of the pass, there is very steep gully that heads north before curving NE toward the Godkin. The stream that meanders through the meadows exits here. The gully had several big waterfalls, so it wasn't an option for us, but if there had been a bunch of snow in it, it might have been a possibility. We started down the small ridge just to the east of that gully.
There was a very prominent trail for the first 400 vertical feet or so, then it mostly disappeared. We then went left a little ways, crossing the stream below the gully, and then headed downhill.
This way wasn't great--we got cliffed out a couple times and had to either find a way to scramble down, or retreat a little ways uphill, go farther left, and repeat. If I was to do it again, I might stay to the right of the stream below the gully, but of course our way worked, and the alternative might not have been any better. The upper Godkin valley is very broad and flat, so we were hoping for fast travel along the river, and at first we got it.
For some stretches up to this point, the Godkin was entirely subterranean--we knew there was quite a bit of water under the rocky floodplain, but we couldn't see or hear it. At about 1.7 miles from the pass, as the crow flies, a large creek comes in from the right, and the water was visible from that point on. That's also when the logjams started.
These were just a pain! The valley was so broad and gradual, it seemed like we should be flying, but it was slow going with logjams every few hundred feet. From the creek at 3.5 miles from the pass to the creek at 4.9mi, we followed a great elk trail on the right side of the river--as good as a human trail for long stretches!
It's possible we could have gotten on the elk trail earlier, and saved ourselves some trouble. Very pretty and quiet in the woods too. Then it narrowed into a canyon--the elk went uphill, and we stayed on the river, which had some very gentle pools.
Unfortunately, the logjams came back, and as the canyon walls got steeper and higher, the jams got worse and worse:
The going was getting very slow, and we started to hit logjams that were not safely passable, and didn't have easy routes around them. We climbed up a couple hundred feet on the right side, did some steep side-sloping and came back to find more logs. At this point we were probably 6.5 miles from the pass, and only about .5 miles from hitting the Elwha trail. Looking up, we could see the Godkin valley opening up. The ridge on the left side didn't look that high anymore, so we headed straight up the steep hillside until we got to the top--about 400 vertical feet at that point.
The top of the ridge was nice and wide, covered in salal, with a few game trails following along it. We went straight down the ridgetop keeping the Godkin valley pretty close on our right, and we hit the Elwha trail in no time!
Here's our little trail coming down from the ridge
And here's my friend looking longingly back up the Godkin into the remote wilderness.
Then we had a couple fun days of hanging out and hiking over low divide and back to the car at the N. Fork Quinault TH.
What a trip. Very grateful I got to do it and see some of these beautiful and remote places.

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Ancient Ambler
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 5:51 am 
Awesome trip and a great debut TR on nwhikers. I enjoyed many of your photos, including your wonderful photo of a segment of the old Rustler trail cutting across a steep sidehill under big trees (IMG_2191) and the seldom-seen view in IMG_2218 looking up Rustler at Mount Delabarre (aka Mt Taylor, aka Peak 6024). What an adventure. Here's hoping you keep on getting out there and post more TRs here.

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Phil
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 8:18 am 
Wow, well done! up.gif

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Magellan
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 9:29 am 
Double down on what AA said. Great first TR on a pretty remote area. up.gif up.gif

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RangerSciacca
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 12:31 pm 
Thanks guys! Here's another photo of the old trail--it's a different section as the photo was taken an hour earlier. Again, a drier area where the trail was able to survive, though not as obvious here.

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RangerSciacca
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 12:58 pm 
Also realized I forgot to post a couple photos of the rustler flats area, so I added those to the original report.

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RichP
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 1:12 pm 
You guys are real trailblazers. Looks like challenging terrain that few bipeds ever see. up.gif

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kite
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 3:35 pm 
Wow! that's kind of a TR of the year

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RodF
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 6:44 pm 
Fabulous! up.gif The Godkin Creek Trail was under construction in 1932-33 by USFS contractors (and Elwha homesteaders) Grant and Will Humes. It was intended to connect over Bretherton Pass to the Pyrites Trail, then under construction by USFS contractor (and Quinault homesteader) John Bunch. Although construction was abandoned when Olympic National Monument was transferred from USFS to NPS administration in 1933, the Humes continued lead, with pack mules, fishing parties up the Godkin Trail for some years. Olympic National Park fire crews also found and used the old trail when fighting a wildfire up the Godkin in the late 1970s. It is above the west bank of the Godkin, and its lower portion (near the Elwha) well used by elk. A couple years ago, Carl Pangratz (former Olympic NP trail supervisor) told me that he had located the Humes' cache of tools, including old bamboo fly rods, on the old trail above the west bank of the Godkin, directly across from Crystal Creek (roughly 3-1/2 miles south of the Elwha). He said the old trail bench was covered with many windfall, but portions of it were still usable. The Humes brothers wouldn't have chosen a trail route without thoroughly exploring the terrain above both banks, so this suggests that the route above the west bank might be easier than above the east bank? Please do phone Carl - he's in the Port Angeles phone book - he is a wonderful guy and would love to hear about your trip.

"of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt" - John Muir "the wild is not the opposite of cultivated. It is the opposite of the captivated” - Vandana Shiva
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RangerSciacca
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PostWed Oct 07, 2015 11:05 pm 
Rod-- I'd heard that story about the Humes brothers before! I believe I came across it on NW Hikers when I was doing research for this trip--perhaps it was even one of your posts. Is Crystal Creek the one that originates between Crystal Peak and Chimney Peak? Across from where that creek flowed into the Godkin, I spent a few minutes looking for the Humes campsite, but couldn't find it. Perhaps I needed to go uphill a little farther--I just explored the flats right at river level. I will ask Carl when I give him a call! Most of the time we were either right in the creek or very close to it for brief up-and-over sections (on both sides of the creek) to get around obstacles. We didn't see evidence of the old trail on those brief detours, but again, maybe it was higher up. That would probably have been a better place for a trail, above the occasional washouts and canyon sections. And indeed, the west side of the creek might be better for a trail because it has has only a few smaller streams, while the east bank has several significant valleys and creeks. I think we may have picked up the end of the Humes trail when we climbed up the west bank to the top of the ridge about .5 miles before we hit the Elwha trail. We found a very prominent trail up there about 400ft above the river, but we weren't sure if it was the Humes trail or an elk trail, which seems to match what you're saying. I'd love to go explore that someday and see if it's the Humes trail, and if so, see if it's still follow-able. To pick up the start of the trail in question, cross the bridge over the Godkin heading south and walk a very short distance, maybe 200-300 feet. You'll see the terminus of a ridge on your left, with several game trails headed up the spine--there's a picture in my TR. If you follow those about 100ft up, the ridge levels off a bit, and as you go farther, the trails coalesce a bit.

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Larry
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PostMon Nov 30, 2015 10:17 am 
What a great report! I too, have traveled down Godkin Creek, and was THRILLED to read about your wonderful trip. It looks loke I did it about the same way, staying in the creek when possible, but simetimes needing to get up higher on the sides in order to avoid jams and mini-canyons. What a fine report and a fine trip you had. A very strong group. smile.gif Memories...

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RangerSciacca
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PostMon Nov 30, 2015 1:34 pm 
Thanks! Just re-read your report, and those elk trails near the bottom of the river sounded VERY familiar! It was a very isolated and pristine place, and I can imagine how peaceful it felt traveling solo.

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ofuros
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PostTue Dec 01, 2015 2:44 pm 
Spectacular trip, RangerSciacca. Enjoyed.

...always dreaming of far off adventures. https://ofuros.exposure.co/
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