Enchanted Valley
May 20, 2004
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Enchanted Valley
- Region: Olympics -- West
- Avg Rating: 3.33
- Be Aware Of
- Blowdowns
- Bridge out
- Mud/Rockslide
- Washouts
We hiked up to the Oniel pass junction from the east fork quinault trail this past weekend on a three night trip.
From the park service report, it sounded like a bomb had gone off, which isn't far from the truth. The hike normally takes about 7 hours to go 13.2 miles to enchanted valley, this year it took us 9 hours due to the extensive damage, windfall, and reroutes. While reroutes are marked, they are marked poorly with white/orange stripped tape that is very difficult to see at a distance. This makes good routefinding skills a nessecity.
Fire Creek is passable without problems. Fording is required at pyrites creek, however there are downed trees over the creek that can be crossed with extreme caution. Oniel creek camp lost two spots due to the river changing channels... only two established spots with fire rings remain. A major washout exists after pyrites creek which requires negotiating lots of downed trees. The ford at enchanted valley was about knee deep. Most campspots are now across the river at enchanted valley, but about three remain on the same side as the chalet. Above enchanted valley there are two major washouts, one at the unnamed creek before the record hemlock tree and one after. Both are passable with difficulty, reroutes are marked with rock piles. O'niel Pass junction is melted out (much earlier than usual), but the o'niel pass trail was still snow covered continuously .1 miles beyond, as was the anderson pass trail.
There was lots of bear activitiy at enchanted valley, we sighted over 10 different bears between pyrites creek and enchanted valley, one who came near our camp a few different times. However, he was more interested in the plants behind our camp than us... made for some great pictures though! We also saw several elk, harlequin ducks, and a coyote!
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