This may be useful to people thinking of hiking this trail. It´s something published by the Olympic National Forest: http://www.fs.usda.gov/[…]/stelprdb5358957.pdf

This was a FANTASTIC hike! I loved every minute of it. The trail is in fantastic shape (thank you!) with very little water on the trail (we were surprised), no snow at all. The trail passes through some awesome areas, including the mossy, ferny, wet forest, some drier areas that smelled amazing, I think some stand of cottonwood (?)... good variation in elevation, not horribly difficult and not super easy. Some excellent viewpoints of the snowy mountains to the south. Anyway, it was really beautiful and we only came across three other groups in two days, so I was really happy about that.

Camping next to the river was excellent! The trail is in great shape and I really recommend this hike. You won´t regret it! :D

Great tune-up hike for the coming summer. Son and I parked at the trailhead about 1130 Saturday morning and headed toward River Camp (our overnight destination). Trail was in really good condition considering there was snow here not long ago. Some wet and muddy spots near the numerous small creeks, but overall in good shape. Awesome spring views of the mountains and lots of birds and even a couple deer were spotted. Passed 1 group of day hikers just before Three O'clock Ridge, otherwise had the trail to ourselves. Leisurely pace put us at River camp about 3 p.m. Set-up, made an early dinner, and sat down to a relaxing, albeit smoldery, fire. One other group of 2 showed up around 4 and setup camp. Weather was awesome! Broke camp about 10 Sunday and headed back at a crisper pace (since it's mostly downhill on the way out) and passed one group headed towards River Camp. Trailhead at 12:30 and beat the traffic home...does it get any better?

Two nights at River Camp along the Lower Dungeness, with a day hike / snowshoe along the Upper Dungeness

Friday after work under the watch of a starry sky, Chris and I hiked the 4.8 miles from the lower trailhead up to River Camp. Saturday, we trekked the 1.2 miles to the Upper Dungeness trailhead enjoying blue, cloudless skies and the sound of gallons of snowmelt crashing against rocks. We then followed the Dungeness River and Trail almost 3 miles to the second bridge, where we decided to turn back. Sunday, we hiked out in warm, partly cloudy conditions.

Trail conditions, Lower Dungeness trail: No snow on the trail, and just a few muddy spots. There are two blowdowns several miles in that are easily crossed by stepping over or ducking under.

Trail conditions, Upper Dungeness trail: Melt-off is underway, but snow completely covers the Upper Dungeness trail starting about one-half mile past the junction with the Royal Basin trail. Snow depth varies from a few inches to a few feet. Where the snow has cleared, snow melt forms streams in certain places on the trail. There are a lot of boot prints showing where people have post-holed quite deeply in spots. The snow was fairly stable and supportive the day we hiked, though, with almost no post-holing, so I decided not to don my snowshoes until our return trip. There is one blowdown that is easily crossed.

Conditions of Upper Dungeness trailhead parking area: There is about a foot of snow covering the Upper Dungeness parking area. From the parking area, looking up the road toward Tubal-Cain, there appears to be at least a foot of snow on the road. It is probably even deeper higher up.

No wildlife sightings, and it’s still too early for wildflowers, but the craggy, snowy peaks provided fantastic contrast against the bright blue skies.

If you are looking for an awesome Spring warm up hike this trail really delivers. Pal Michael and myself headed up to the Lower Dungeness trailhead Friday evening, hit the trail at about 8:45 pm. Gorgeous evening with clear starry skies. The trip in to River Shelter is 4.8 miles a lot of it is pretty steep uphill, could be dicey with headlamps if you are skittish about edges and slipping as there was quite a bit of mud/trickles across the trail. It was a really hard push after a very trying week at work. And worth every burning step! The night skies at the ridgetop were spectacular-stars galore and the sound of the river in the valley bottom below. Reaching River shelter at around 2 1/2 hours and found no one at home. Had the luxury of setting up camp in a shelter with a table to cook on, nails to hand goods, and a fire ring with stumps to sit on. Definitely felt spoiled. River right outside the back of the shelter just loud enought to lull you to sleep. Awoke to beautiful blue sunny skies Saturday morning, had a fortifying breakfast and headed up the trail towards the Upper Dungeness trailhead. There were several cars there already, and while we were sunnning in the parking lot several 4x4 trucks approached to try and make it further up the road which was snowed in right across the bridge from the parking lot. Heading up the Upper D trail along the river was absolutely fantastic-filtered sun through towering mossy trees, the river rushing alongside and really a trail in great shape. Thanks to those who have been working on the trail you are so appreciated you have no idea. Ran into a completely snow covered trail on the Upper D maybe about a mile or more form the trailhead? Maybe not totally accurate but somewhere around there. Continued on for quite some time to the first bridge crossing where stopped for lunch. I was postholing most of the way, so not easy on the sore leg. Michael tried out a new pair of MSR snowshoes he claims to be great. He had borrowed a pair of snowshoes for me (very nice) which I did not try, in retrospect I suppose I should have. Turned around at the bridge and headed back to the upper trailhead, stopped in the sun to dry stuff out and make some Vitamin D before heading back to River shelter. Camp food is always so good when you have really worked for it and we earned it. M made a fire to sit around and although a smoldery sort it was nice to have while we talked before retiring for the night. The hike out the next morning was again fantastically sunny and we got to see what we had missed on the dark hike in Friday night!. A couple blowdowns to easily go under/over and some have been cleared. Some stream crossings, but nothing too challenging but definitely wear high topped waterproof boots or you will get wet. Happy Hiking! It's going to be a great season!