The trail is almost completely clear of blowdowns and there is no snow, some muddy areas. We ran into the work crew (only three of them!) who had removed 55 logs from the trail in the past week - they also had done some tread and rock wall work. Some logs had been enormous near O'Neil Camp. Amazing amount of work by that crew. There are five minor logs left between Pyrites Creek and the Chalet. All major streams have bridges or footlogs. We spent two nights in the valley. The bear watching was great. Only went about 1.5 mi. past the valley to a rotten snow bridge and turned around.

Drove out to Lake Quinalt late Friday night. Slept in truck. Meant to register at the ranger station shown on the map at Graves Creek, but woke to find it unattended. Drove back into town to register there and eat some pancakes in the general store across the street from the ranger station. Passed a group of elk on the way back out to the trailhead. Started hiking at 10:30. Many blowdowns on the trail. There is one section maybe a mile before O'neil Creek that appears to have been host to a tornado, with about ten trees having fallen all over each other. Quite the puzzle getting through there with a big pack. Lots of Elk, including some young ones I think. Snow begins to appear about 2 miles before Enchanted Valley but trail is easy to follow. Arrived at chalet in Enchanted Valley about 5:00. Camped. One other solo hiker camped nearby. Plenty of bear scat around. Hiked out the next day on a similar schedule, meeting lots of day hikers, including a woman who had just spooked a bear. There was some kind of trail crew working near Pony Bridge. When I do it again, I'll probably take 3 days and dayhike Enchanted Valley from a camp at Pyrites Creek or something. Fantastic weekend.

Last year at this time we managed to hike up to the Chalet at Enchanted Valley in one day. This trip was a little bit different. There were over 50 trees/big branches that were covering the trail, water about mid-calf deep in on part that was difficult to get around without getting wet, and snow after O'Neil's Campground that gradually accumulated to about 3 feet. If you plan on doing this hike I would addan extra day to what you normally do it in. We had to stop about 1.5 miles from the Chalet due to snow and loss of light.

We only had 3 days to see this area so we hiked about 8 miles the first day and camped 2 nights at a nice campsite just beyond No Name Creek and day hiked the middle day to Enchanted Valley. The trail is in good condition and fall colors are starting to appear. The first picture shows how close the river is to Enchanted Valley Chalet. The second picture (kinda blurry) is of a huge bull elk (about 14 point rack) that we heard bugling. The new Graves Creek and Enchanted Valley bridges are a big improvement and built to last a long time. Do not cross on the old foot log at No Name Creek, a new one is in place but the creek is (currently) easy to boulder hop.