Colonel Bob Wilderness

Located in the southwest corner of the Olympic National Forest near Quinault Lake, the Colonel Bob Wilderness is temperate rainforest: towering evergreens and an emerald carpet of mosses, ferns, lichens, and wildflowers. Annual rainfall averages over 120 inches. The terrain is otherwise steep, rising suddenly from the Quinault River to gain more than 4,000 feet in little over a mile. Marking the center of the area is 4,492-foot Colonel Bob, the second highest point in the Wilderness after a 4,509-foot peak that has no name. Two relatively parallel ridges join near the Colonel to continue southwesterly with a ragged profile, and several creeks run off the crest of the ridge either north to meet the Quinault River or south to meet the Humptulips River, both of which lie outside the Wilderness. Magnificent solitude fills cliff-sided Fletcher Canyon as it drops away from the summit of Colonel Bob toward the northeast. Colonel Bob Trail climbs steeply from the northern boundary to the top of Colonel Bob, past the juncture with the Petes Creek Trail, which runs down Petes Creek and out of the area in a southerly direction. Group size is limited to 12 people and 8 head of pack or saddle stock. Campfires and gathering wood for campfires are prohibited above 3,500 feet, and caching or storing equipment for longer than 24 hours is prohibited. All hay or crop products brought in must be state certified weed free.