The Little 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 wate ...

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 the ...

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 sover ...

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 on ...

. It rises in

Clallam County Clallam County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 78,209 in 2021. The county seat and largest city is Port Angeles; the county as a whole comprises the ...

, near

Mount Townsend Mount Townsend, a mountain in the Main Range of the Great Dividing Range, is located in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, Australia. With an elevation of above sea level, Mount Townsend is the second-highest peak of mainland ...

of 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 easter ...

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 sel ...

word /qʷəʔlsíd/, referring to a tribal group and the name of an aboriginal Twana village and community on Quilcene Bay.

Course

The river flows generally east through 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, Jefferso ...

. After exiting the higher mountains and the national forest the Little Quilcene River flows east and southeast through rolling terrain. It enters Jefferson County and flows more directly south to Quilcene, where it empties into the northern end of 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

Big Quilcene River The Big Quilcene River is a river on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. Etymology The name "Quilcene" comes from the Twana word /qʷəʔlsíd/, referring to a tribal group and the name of an aboriginal Twana village and commu ...

enters Quilcene Bay less than a mile to the south.

References

Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Clallam County, Washington Rivers of Jefferson County, Washington {{Washington-river-stub

Etymology

Course

See also

References