The Big Quilcene River is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
on the
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and th ...
in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
.
Etymology
The name "Quilcene" comes from the
Twana
Twana is the collective name for a group of nine Coast Salish peoples in the northern-mid Puget Sound region, most of whom are extinct or are now subsumed into other groups and organized tribes. The Skokomish are the main surviving group and se ...
word /qʷəʔlsíd/, referring to a tribal group
and the name of an aboriginal Twana village and community on
Quilcene Bay.
Course
The Big Quilcene River rises in the
Buckhorn Wilderness
The Buckhorn Wilderness is a mountainous U.S. Wilderness Area, wilderness area on the northeastern Olympic Peninsula in Washington (state), Washington, United States, USA. Named after Buckhorn Mountain (), the wilderness abuts the eastern bounda ...
near
Marmot Pass, south of
Buckhorn Mountain, and near
Boulder Ridge. It flows generally east through the
Olympic Mountains
The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easte ...
and the
Olympic National Forest
Olympic National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington, USA. With an area of , it nearly surrounds Olympic National Park and the Olympic Mountain range. Olympic National Forest contains parts of Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jeffer ...
. After flowing south briefly the river is joined by Tunnel Creek and again flows east. It cuts through the Quilcene Range of the Olympic Mountains in which it collects a number of tributaries, including Mile And A Half Creek.
Near Rainbow Campground the river turns north and is paralleled by
U.S. Route 101. In its last few miles the river turns east and flows by the south side of
Quilcene before emptying into Quilcene Bay, part of
Hood Canal
Hood Canal is a fjord forming the western lobe, and one of the four main basins,[Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...]
website.
The
Little Quilcene River enters Quilcene Bay less than a mile to the north.
[
]
See also
* List of Washington rivers
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Washington.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin. Respective tributaries are indented under each larger stream's name and are ordered downstream to upstream.
Fraser River (Britis ...
* Little Quilcene River
* Quilcene, Washington
References
External links
*
*
Rivers of Washington (state)
Rivers of Jefferson County, Washington
{{Washington-river-stub