Given the amount of people hiking Mt. Ellinor yesterday, we assumed the Tunnel Creek Trail would also be fairly crowded… However it lived up to it’s description of solitude and we only passed a few other people the entire time we were out there. We turned around at the wood shelter, which shortens the hike quite a bit and turns it into a pleasant jaunt along the river. We also remembered to stock up on bug spray this time. We’ll have to hit this one up again later this summer and go further out to the mountain view at the end. It’s well worth visiting again!
I was at Tunnel Creek last year with my Dad and got stung by bees 5 minutes up past the trail head! Make sure you bring a water filter with you next time and try the water from the creek – best (and sweetest) tasting water in the Olympics!