Enchanted Valley

This is a perfect 2-3 day backpacking trip. We drove to Quinault Friday after work and hiked the 2.2 miles into Pony Bridge camp. This is probably the most scenic camp on the whole trip, sort of dark and mysterious. The trail is in great shape all the way to the crossing of the Quinault R just before the Valley. We missed the turn-off for O'Neil Cr camp as the sign is buried under the overgrowth, but if you want to check it out look for the thin trail just after an unnamed creek crossing an hour after crossing Fire Creek. The suspension bridge is out so bear left towards the horse ford. There are some jerry-rigged footlogs over the river, but we opted for the safer, if wetter fording of the river. Mid-afternoon Sat the river was at mid-thigh, Sunday morning was just below the knee. Enchanted Valley in incredible. The waterfalls (all dozen or so) are in full force with 3000' drops. Saturday was clear so we had good views up the valley to Mt Anderson and back down the valley towards Mt Steel. There's a large herd of resident elk in the valley as well as several bears. We also saw several bears around the Pyrite Cr - Lamata Cr area. We talked to the rangers about Anderson pass, apparently it is still quite buried. The trip out on Sunday took ~6 hours.