My dad and I did a overnight hike into the Enchanted Valley this past weekend.

We had perfect weather for the way in. Sunny, clear and in the high 60's.

We left the trailhead around 8 and arrived in the valley around 3:30. Could of done the hike faster, but we were taking our time and took a ton of pictures.

The trail is in very good condition.

Workers have cleared all blow downs for the first 4 miles. All other blow downs are easy to get over or around.

Wildlife is really out this time of year. We saw 2 small herd of elk (maybe 10 head in each, though I'm sure there were more we could not see), as well as 4 bears on the way in (2 of them 25-30 feet away and 2 of them 50 yards or more away) and 2 more in the valley. All the bears seemed mostly friendly and were more interested in the grass and bugs they were eating, than us.

There are a ton of creek crossings on the trail in but the only 'difficult' one is Pyrites Creek. The main log bridge is out, but their is a small log bridge that has been notched for safe crossing. It is narrow, but very cross-able.

As for snow, there is very little snow before Enchanted Valley, only one or two spots, of maybe a couple hundred feet long each that cover the trail.

The valley is mostly clear with spots of snow here and there.

A half mile past the last Enchanted Valley bear wire snow picks up but is melting pretty quickly and you can still get an excellent view of Anderson Glacier without too much trouble.

There are a couple of bears in the Valley. Two of them spent the evening wandering around our camp and visiting other people in the valley.

The rain stayed away until we crossed the bridge on the way out of the valley and then it rained for the next 13 miles. At least we had one dry day in the rainforest.

The husband and I headed up yesterday after a failed attempt a few weeks back, where the gate was closed at the junction following the ranger station.

There was still some snow out on the drive up as we neared the trailhead, but we were OK in our RAM getting up there and in all, the path up would be completely fine to do in a sedan. The parking by the trailhead was pretty snowed still, and we stopped to help out a lady in a rental car that couldn't back out without snowing herself in.

That done, we headed out to the Pony Bridge. Weather was nice and without rain threatening in the forecast we just wore regular clothing and some good boots. About 10/15 minutes in the snow would pack on the trail but it was well stamped down, and manageable. As my husband would comment later about a few sections, it was; "Like walking a tight rope inside a snow path" There wasn't much slush going in, but heading out the sunshine that came in had turned a good section of the trail to slush and mud.

In all, the hike was peaceful with only one group seen ahead of us (a couple with a charming German Shepard dog)and one heading down (older couple who already completed the hike) who confirmed the trail was passable all the way to the bridge. The view was gorgeous as we arrived ~3:30pm at the bridge.

Two suggestions if you're heading up -
1) Make sure your boots are waterproof, or waterproof them the day or two ahead.
<I didn't and with the snow melt, there were some areas were stepping in a shallow and narrow stream wasn't avoidable. Plus, on the way back, the slush got pretty good in areas.>
2) Don't worry about pretending you're 7 again on some of the steep down sections. Sometimes safety comes before looking cool.

Oh and not a suggestion, but an imperative - HAVE FUN!

Reached the Graves Creek TH at 10:00 AM it had started snowing pretty heavy at this point. There was one other car at the trail head, we knew it would be a nice quiet hike, goal was make Pony Bridge and decide from there. So we geared up and headed up the trail. There was easily 3 to 4 in. at the TH, but we brought our snow gear, so we were good to go. Trail was in great shape, after a about a 1.5 miles in, the snow was now an easy 6 more in. and really dumping it. So with hesitation we decided to head on back, didn't want to take any chances. Beautiful hike, with great views of Eagles along the river.

This was our first backpack in quite a while, and our first with an 8-year old, so we took it easy. About halfway up the Enchanted Valley trail, camped near O'Neil Creek Camp (but not in the camp itself), and hiked back the next day. Good thing, too, since the road to the trailhead (Graves Creek Road 1.8 miles east of the Upper Quinault River Bridge) was closed starting the day after we got out, and will be until September 17.

Due to a late start on Sunday (had to drop another child off at camp), we skipped hiking on that day and spent the night at Graves Creek Campground, which allowed us to use up more food and trim down our packs even more. It also alerted us to our main problem during this hike: bugs. Not so many that you couldn't avoid them by moving, but enough that when you sat still for a few minutes without bug repellent you were liable to be bitten multiple times.

We set off Monday morning with the toughest part of the hike, the 2 miles at the start (not hard for us adults, but a source of complaints from our 8-year old). The Pop Tart we fed him at the top of the hill, as well as the relative flatness thereafter, staved off most further complaining. While stopped at the top of the hill, we met a Park Ranger heading back, who said we should avoid O'Neil Creek Camp if we wanted to avoid bugs, and advised camping near the river 30 minutes or so before the Camp. Which we eventually did (although how we knew it was 30 minutes before is a mystery to me).

Anyway, Pony Bridge is lovely, and, if you wait until the first point you hit the river after that, there's a rocky bar next to the river that is breezy and mostly brush-free, and thus a respite from bugs. We ate lunch there, and noticed there was a sandy spot big enough for a tent. But we pressed on.

By 2:30, the kid was getting tired despite our half-hourly rest breaks, so we looked for a campsite in earnest. We found another rocky bar on the river (as well as what looked like a deer skeleton just on the side of the trail - cool, and a little side lagoon off the river with fish fry in it - also cool), and I went ahead a bit to see how close we were to O'Neil Camp (in case we wanted to use a privy). And sure enough, it was about 30 minutes down the trail, and very buggy. But still, privy and bear wire: useful (we used a bear canister borrowed from the South Quinault Ranger Station, but I noticed some other folks used the wire to cache food and other items they didn't feel like taking up the Valley and back down again).

Someday we'll be back, and hopefully make it to the Enchanted Valley proper (and beyond).

Note: apart from a few ground squirrels, numerous bird calls and what was probably a frog call we heard at the top of the hill west of Pony Bridge, we saw no wildlife on this section of the trail this time of year. I suppose with the road closure and the corresponding decline in hikers, the wildlife might decide to start moving down the river valley during the next month, so keep an eye out if you hike in late September.