Parking
Roadside parking is on the right along South Shore Road. Cross the road to reach the Big Spruce Trailhead.
Overview
About Quinault Big Sitka Spruce Tree Trail
Why go
- A distinctive giant tree after only about 0.19 mile on foot
- Short, nearly level route
Heads up
- You have to cross South Shore Road at the trailhead
- The small trail entrance can be easy to miss
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Olympic map
Full mapElevation194–211 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
6 active Olympic alerts
- CautionUS 101 Hoh River Bridge reduced to one laneUS 101 at the Hoh River Bridge is restricted to one lane of alternating traffic; obey the signals and 25 mph speed limit.Official details
- ClosureStaircase wilderness trails and campsites remain closedWilderness trails and campsites around Staircase remain closed during recovery from the Bear Gulch Fire; the developed Staircase area, including the Rapids Loop, campground, and ranger station, is…Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Olympic Tour Guide
Your drive to Quinault Big Sitka Spruce Tree Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Olympic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Olympic audio tourRecorded for this trailhead
Quinault Big Sitka Spruce: Nearly Sixty Feet Around0:00 / 0:28
“The trail to Quinault's Big Sitka Spruce is coming up beside Rain Forest Resort Village. Allow about half an hour for the short, nearly level walk and a look around the tree's broad roots.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Olympic Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Lake Quinault Lodge and the Village Museum
- The Maple’s Spinning Seeds
- Willaby: Camping and Lake Access
- Kestner’s Rebuilt Barn
- 204 audio storiesacross Olympic’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Olympic Marmot, Humpback Whale, Grey Whale, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 148 trails, 94 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Quinault Big Sitka Spruce Tree Trail
The short routeThis easy out-and-back follows a fine-gravel footpath through forest to the Quinault Big Sitka…
This easy out-and-back follows a fine-gravel footpath through forest to the Quinault Big Sitka Spruce. The mapped corridor is about 0.19 mile each way, making the walk roughly 0.4 mile round trip; allow about 30 minutes with time at the tree. One published distance is 0.3 mile but does not say whether that means one way or round trip, so the stored length follows the mapped route and the round-trip convention.
Finding the entranceRoadside parking is on the right along South Shore Road; cross the road to reach the trailhead.
Roadside parking is on the right along South Shore Road; cross the road to reach the trailhead. The entrance can be easy to drive past. The National Park Service notes that Rain Forest Resort Village manages the site, and online access details are not explicit. Follow any posted directions at the resort before setting out.
The spruceThe destination tree is reported at 191 feet tall and 58 feet 11 inches in circumference.
The destination tree is reported at 191 feet tall and 58 feet 11 inches in circumference. “World’s largest” depends on how a tree is measured: a spruce in the Queets Valley is reported to have greater wood volume. This short walk is about seeing the scale of the Quinault tree up close.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Olympic
710 sightingsOlympic MarmotMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
30 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
42 sightingsGrey WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
23 sightingsMountain LionMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
71 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
306 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Olympic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
