Lower Gray Wolf River — Olympic Peninsula

Hiked: March 5, 2023

As with most birthdays in my family, we celebrated my mom's by going on a hike in the Buckhorn Wilderness in the Olympics. The Lower Gray Wolf River is a gorgeous, moderate-elevation-gain hike that is perfect for an out-and-back day hike or overnight backpacking trip. The trailhead begins high above the river; this is one of the rare instances in the Olympics where you begin your hike going downhill. While this hike does not always walk directly along the river, you can take the Cat Creek trail to the left (there is a sign) which follows the creek and then meets up with the Gray Wolf trail later on. Because the beginning of this trail used to be a logging road, it starts off a little bland, but by taking the Cat Creek trail, it plunges you into the older growth quicker and you see more floral/fungal diversity.

Exploring the first spot where the trail meets the Gray Wolf River.

The recent cold front dropped snow much lower than 1500ft, so we encountered snow almost immediately on Palo Alto Road. When we turned on to NF-2880, the snow and ice continued but our Subaru Crosstrek Sport, using X-Mode, did a great job getting us down the steep road. I would not recommend if you do not have grippy tires or tire chains/cables. These roads were not plowed. We got to the trailhead around 10:30am and the parking area was empty. This trailhead is primitive and difficult to see unless you are looking for it. There is no outhouse either. It is good to have a GPS map to find it.

The rain and snow made the trail a bit muddy, but with waterproof boots it was not difficult to get through. We decided to take the Cat Creek trail to the left because it gets you off the road-like Gray Wolf trail. The vegetation is much more diverse and established. This trail had a few log bridges to get you through the mud, but there was ice on them which made them slippery. We often walked around them to avoid slipping. This trail also connects with the old Gray Wolf trail, which is now unmaintained, possibly due to a washout. You will come across this fork, but go right to stay on the Cat Creek trail.

Mini icicles melting

Further on, there were one or two blowdowns across the trail that were not difficult to step over. The second time you reach the river, you walk along it for the rest of the hike. There was a small landslide that was not hard to cross in this section. We arrived right after it happened; I could still smell the soil and saw some rocks rolling. (I even inhaled some of it and choked...) Beyond the final campsite, the trail is much less maintained and we could not reach the very end because of a massive pile of blowdowns. We only had about 500ft left of trail, so it was not worth it to get to the end. We had lunch in the final campsite before hiking back.

We decided to take the Gray Wolf trail instead of the Cat Creek trail back, but it was much less interesting. If I were to hike this again, I would take the Cat Creek trail both directions. While there was a good amount of up and down on this trail, coming back felt easier than we expected! We passed two other groups on our way back, so this is a little known gem in the winter.

Overall, the hike took us about 4 hours and 10 minutes to complete, at 7.77 miles round trip according to Gaia GPS. This hike is absolutely gorgeous and I would love to come back and do it as a overnight backpacking trip.