Trip Reports

The road to Graves Creek campground (and the start of the Enchanted Valley trail) is closed about 4 and a half miles back. No one knew the condition, but we took our bikes (not even real mountain bikes, just hybrids) and easily made it to the deserted campground. There was some bouncing, and, for a bit, I got off my bike and walked, but generally it was easy. We saw lots of elk. No bears. Flowers starting to bloom. Oxylis everywhere. It was very strange to walk around a campground with absolutely no one there. We didn't have time to walk the trail to Pony Creek, because we started in the afternoon. But for anyone who wants to go explore without a million people around, throw your bike in the car and go!

I spent 4 days and 3 nights on the Enchanted Valley Trail. I saw 4 bears 5 times, including a mother and her cub. The trail is being worked on and is in good shape until Pyrite Creek after that is a scary creek crossing and a few blow downs. Trail was a little bit muddy in some spots but really not too bad.

My GPS says it is over 8 miles to O'Neal camp but the signs say it's 6.5 miles. I think my GPS is correct.

I found giant oyster mushrooms with no maggots in them, I also found some gyromitra but I did not pick them.

http://mosswalks.blogspot.com

this trail has water flowing in the trail in several areas. it has been logged out the first five miles to O'Neil camp area. there are two logs before you get there that you have to crawl under. this is hard with a rucksack on, well a backpack to you new age folks. after O'Neil there is a huge doug fir in the trail - the river had washed it out. in fact the trail is washed out here just before you get to no name creek. after pyrites creek there is a huge cedar down. in all it is great hike. seen lots of bears and was told there was lots of elk. i never saw any but i sure saw the sign. i will have pictures later - happy trails

August 5: Jeff, Neil and I got to Enchanted Valley Trailhead and left car with heavy packs about ten-thirty after a long drive around from near Seattle. Plan was to get into and explore Muncaster Basin with a hope to cross to the Quinault and come out the Skyline Trail in nine days. Great weather, hot. We walked in the three miles or so to the bridge over the river and a mile further on hit Fire Creek and here we left the trail for a week. Started up the ridge north of Fire Creek and worked uphill all afternoon. Late afternoon in thick going found a level place and camped. Jeff and Neil went off for water and found it a ways off.

August 6: Broke camp and started climbing the steep slope. Rough Bushwhacking, lots of undergrowth and fallen logs, steep, brush, devil's club, rough going. Trail got t=steeper and ridge narrower and narrower until we were on this knife edge and it got sketchy, at least for me. Managed to work around some gulies and break above trees to alipin bench and some snow, then leading down fifty feet to a nice tarn and a great site on a knoll. Stopped after six or seven horus of hiking. Camped there, great views of ridges before us, a basin, and behidn us the valley.

August 7: After some searching bushwhacked around the shoulder of some peaks to a high pass just east of Muncaster Mountain. Had to cross Fire Creek headwaters on steep slope and then climb to the pass. On the other side we faced Muncaster Basin, raw rock, a lot of snow, and peaks everywhere. Slid downt he snow to the basin and then walked across the basin and up to a bench on the other side. Made camp here. Jeff and Neil explored all the nearby peaks and I wandered down low. That evening great sunset but clouds coming in, we could see west to Olympus area and the range that marks the Skyling Trail. Ahead we could also see Mount Taylor/Delebarre and it was obvious there was no easy route across it. The country was damn rugged. Saw a lot of bears.

August 8: Clouds rolled in and rain started. we worked along the ridge and the Muncaster area and came to a big cliff area where there was no easy route forward. Had to drop packs and Jeff and Neil worked way down then over to find the way forward. I made up camp and watched a bear wander within fifty yards. That evening it rained and was dark fog and we camped on rocks on a knoll while the rain fell and it looked bleak.

August 9: This day the weather better and we packed up and worked down a snowchute and then across a knob to further basins approaching June 10 peak. Took our time, the country was just so beautiful. The close we got to Delebarre the more difficult it looked. We started to see that we wouldn't make the crossing and would have to take the alternate route out, which meant going ahead to the headwaters of Pyrites Creek and then bushwhacking back down to the Enchanted Valley Trail at Pyrites. Damn rough country between where we were and there. We made it to a lovely basin near June 10 peak and then climbed high above and found this fantastic spot way up high in the rocks and near snow, overlooking everything with June 10 behind us. That evening Jeff and Neil climbed Delebarre. Lovely night.

August 10: This day we decided to do some serious scouting forward. None of us wanted to backtrack over some of the sketchy areas we had traversed and we now knew we wouldn't ross Delebarre to Martin's Park. The route was not clear at all and looked forbidding. We all explored forward and north to get beyond June 10 peak and then see if we could find a way across about a half mile of serious and steep gullies that dropped a thousand feet in ridges down to the headwaters of Godkin Creek, which we could see 2000 feet below us. We decided to on the next day make a run for a way to get past the rough gullies and find the headwaters of Pyrites Creek. I had tried years ago to come up that trail and had made it to treeline but it was a long time ago and a long ways off from where we were.

That evening the fog rolled in down low, spectacular, and it rained a little, but the next day - August 11 - we had fine hot weather and we headed off to find Pyrites.

August 11: I would bet the total distance as a crow flew between our camp and the area we thought we could get over to Pyrites - a possible pass sough of Chumney Peak - is less than two mile, maybe less than that. We went the first mile fine and then the adventure began. It was thick thick gnarly brush and trees and then steep exposed gullies, knotty tangles, more brush, so bad that visibility was three feet, and we had to forge ahead then be blocked by a gully cliff, then back up r go uphill 300 feet and try again or drop down 500 feet and try again, and we struggled and pushed and fought through the country and the hours passed and I started to thinkl we're gonna have to backtrack. But we kept on and after five hours going a quarter mile - five hours! - Neil found the way and we broke out into some lovely small basins, a great campsite overlooking Godkin, with a nicesaddle 300 feet above that overlooked Pyrits and the Enchanted Valley. We were stoked.

August 12: Packed up and climbed to saddle then started down through teh blueberries and alipne country headed northeast trying to work around east before dropping down into the valley. Walked a mile or two then started donhill, another stiff bushwhack getting thicker as we went, eventually finding ourselves having to drop into a steep gulley 200 feet deep then climbing out the other side and then we found more open going. But then we ended up starting back a bit toward the south and got into the gullies and climb-outs again, up and down, false starts, bushwhacking back up, hours and hours, but getting closer and closeer to the valey floor. But then within a half mile or mile of the river, we could even hear it, we ran into this huge blowdown I remembered from years ago and it took us two hours to climb under over and through the huge logs and devil's club before we found the river and the outlet of Pyrite's Creek. On a trail at last. We made camp and relaxed.

August 13: This day we walekd the 10 miles out to our care, a total breeze after the days off trail, just like wandering a wide highway, packs not lights, food gone, and free for once from bloody legs and slashing branches.

So we didn't make the Muncaster-Quinault traverse - we'll have to try that another year - and the Skylign Trail will have to wait, but we saw some absolutrely great country I bet few get intio, and I think we missed whatever route there is to get t Pyrites, because the route we took was a nightmare. Great fun after it was over, though.

The trail is in excellent shape to Enchanted Valley. All bridges are in and only a few muddy spots after the hot and dry weather we have been having. The valley was as beautiful as ever, and very peaceful mid-week. We saw no four-legged wildlife, which marks my first time hiking in the Olympics and not seeing either bear or elk. (Seems like there was an elk herd that was resident in the valley 10+ years ago.) The payoffs were the almost bug-free conditions, the gorgeous weather, and the unending scenery. We did day hike up beyond the O’Neil pass trail junction, going as far as a bleached out old log lying across the trail in the basin just below Anderson Pass. This seemed like a good stopping point. We never encountered snow, and it appeared that the only lingering substantial “on-trail” snow patch was on the switchbacks just below Anderson Pass. There was one difficult stream crossing (due to high run-off) that turned around a party with children and puzzled us for a while, but it was navigable and doubtless will only improve in the coming weeks. A wonderful mid-week trip and June hike!

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.

This was my first time on this trail and it proved a little more challenging than I expected. Mainly, there is a lot of water and mud in the center part of the hike. The trail at points is a flowing creek that at times was well above the ankles. The mud in spots was the shoe grapping type. Highly advised to carry camp shoes as you will get wet. The trail detour around the middle of the trail is a fork and it is not signed which way to go, so take the left fork and follow the pink ribbons and you will not have a problem. Another party, took the right fork and went awhile before realizing their mistake. On the way back, observe your landmarks as the fork is less distinquishable. The foot bridge at no name creek (8.5 miles) was out and their was a crew attempting to fix it. You can either ford the creek which was a challenge or take the old log which was tilted and mossy. Hopefully, the current log is repaired. No bugs at all.