Daisy and I awoke at our car camp site on FS 2880, with nothing but blue skies above and a sweet breeze all around us, nice and rested up from our hike of the Gray Wolf the day before. We proceeded to do nothing at all from 9 am to noon, except let our gear dry out in the sun. That's the life!
But eventually the desire to hike won out over sloth, so we drove over to the Tubal Cain mine TH and started out at 1:30 pm. I fell in love with this trail. It is so smooth, so nicely graded, a joy to walk on, and no switchbacks. The trail is in absolutely perfect condition. There is plenty to see as well. Some of the best moss gardens around, a fair amount of really big trees, burned-over areas making a comeback, and in a couple of weeks (?) a rhododendron flower show that promises to be spectacular, judging by all the immature buds on the gazillions of rhody bushes that line the trail for the first few miles.
At three miles the first mine is reached, just a couple of dozen feet up the Tull canyon side trail. A few flash pics and we were off again, soon arriving at the Tubal Cain area. Did I mention the moss? It is at its best in this area, copious in quantity and breathtaking in the vibrancy of its green color. I really enjoyed poking around the old mine debris and abandoned implements. There is a real feeling of history about the area. We then clambered up the tailings pile to the mine itself, a super-cool and spooky place. I especailly liked the stream flowing right out of the mine shaft. From that area we could see that the entire hillside that the trail switchbacks up after crossing Copper creek was all melted out. My guess is the trail is snow-free all or most of the way to Buckhorn pass. We were above 4,200 ft, and the snow level was about two thousand feet higher still, I'm guessing.
Our turn-around time was 6:15, and we took off then, reluctantly, because the last ferry out of Kingston at 11:10 pm won't wait no matter how many times I ask them to! We got back to the car at 8:15, left at 8:30, made the QFC gas station in Sequim by 9:30 for a couple of "emergency gallons", still had time to fill 'er up at the Kingston Arco station ($2.99.9 for unleaded regular), and made the last ferry no problem. We rolled in to the driveway at midnight, exhausted but happy. Here are a bunch of the pics:
Thanks for the trail report Slug. I've hiked the Tubal Cain Mine Trail before but couldn't figure out how to get to the actual Tubal Cain Mine entrance. Is it off the trail somewhere?
-------------- Pain is just weakness leaving the body.
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-------------- Pain is just weakness leaving the body.
Just a bit off the trail. Very shortly before the crossing of Copper creek, look for a way trail off to the left, currently marked with a bit of flagging tape, but fairly obvious without it. You will come right away to a couple of large campsites littered with old boilers and other mining detritus too big to be carried off by souvenier hunters. Cross over the small stream by one of the bootpaths and head over towards the cliffs. You will see a huge mine tailings pile, so big you might think it was a natural talus fan, at least 100 ft tall and steeply-sloped. There is a rude path along the left side of the pile, which crosses over to the right side near the top of the pile, which then brings you to the cliff face a hundred or so feet above the campsites, and the site of the mine entrance, which you can't miss once you get up the tailings pile. I found it with just the info that it was at the top of the pile, so you should have no problem with the above directions. It's well worth finding, IMO.
It's so-so. There's lots of ups then downs, the car gaining a vertical mile (seemingly) to get to a 3,000 ft trailhead from sea level. The part down to Dungeness Forks campground is super-steep and windy, and pretty darn narrow in places. Potholes are not very plentiful, mainly the road is decent, but when you do come to some potholes, slow down bigtime, because the ones that are there are clustered too tightly to get around by swerving, and are very deep. But most of them are in one stretch of under a mile. It took me almost 45 minutes to drive from the Tubal Cain TH to the junction of Palo Alto rd and Hiway 101, and I wasn't dawdling along, either, with a ferry to catch.
I thought the road was neat, really enjoyed it at the time. It just seemed nicely graded, maybe it has detiorated since then.
Did you know about the plane wreckage in Tull Canyon before the Creek crossing and mine area? There is not much plane left but its not to far from the main trail, worth checking out. The 15 foot tall rhodies alongside the trail are spectacular.
The road has its good points. Some people like windy roads, and there are a few nice view sections, plus the typical spots to see rushing rivers, etc. I'm just not a big fan of driving on dirt roads, and that one is fairly long, is all. For most of the way I was able to cruise at speeds approaching 30 mph.
Jeff: I did know about the plane wreckage, but with my 1:30 start, it just wasn't on the agenda that day.
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We got back to the car at 8:15, left at 8:30, made the QFC gas station in Sequim by 9:30 for a couple of "emergency gallons", still had time to fill 'er up at the Kingston Arco station ($2.99.9 for unleaded regular), and made the last ferry no problem. We rolled in to the driveway at midnight, exhausted but happy. Here are a bunch of the pics:
