We set out for a two night three day backpack starting from Marmot Pass Trailhead.  We dropped a car at Dosewallips Trailhead and were dropped at Marmot Pass TH.  Privy at Marmot but not at Dose. We are mid level backpackers who may not hike as much as we could but certainly love being on the trails.  

The first 2-ish miles were gorgeous, not too steep.  We stopped and were surprised we had already hiked 2 miles. The trail is as described on WTA, climbs/gets steeper.  Camp Mystery was pretty cool with a nice layout for camping complete with a stream.  The trail from Camp Mystery to Marmot Pass was challenging, step by step to the pass and some gorgeous views!

Marmot Pass to Home Lake - there is a tricky snowfield that does have a clear path but is on a steep slope so use caution.  Boulder Shelter looked like a nice place to camp; a stream, a meadow to camp, and even the shelter area has flat places to set up.  We continued on but probably should have stopped there.  The hike to Home Lake was 'long' and hot, seemed to continue forever. But on the forever trail were beautiful views of peaks I don't know the name of, amazing to ponder scree fields, huge boulders, wildflowers...wildflowers galore!  Home Lake was mosquito heavy!  It was a bit of a challenge to find tent space, we needed three spots.  The lake is the water source and was visibly clean (filter of course).  Plenty of fish who didn't eat as many mosquitos as I would have wanted lol.  It took us a while to get to Home Lake so we ate and went to bed which was good as we were getting eaten.

The next morning sun greeted us by shining on the mountain by the lake as well as the birds singing us to waken.  The mosquitos were too horrible early morning but we didn't dally in getting ready for our day.  The trail to Constance Pass from Home Lake is steep right from the beginning and continues until the Pass and beyond.  Up and up for a while. A small snowfield that is avoidable before the pass. Constance Pass on this clear July day gave us views for miles!  We saw the tip of Mount Tahoma (Rainier), many, many mountains I couldn't start to name going on and on.  It was breathtaking.  Onward to the even steeper climb to the top out of 6200' elevation.  Whew, the climb from Constance to whatever we were on was steep!  One person said no way was she climbing up to that (she did) but it is very intimidating and rewarding.  The views from Constance are amazing but the views from the top are phenomenal! Now down.  Traversing scree fields were tricky!  There is a path but nature seems to take it over so it's walking on the side of your shoes kind of traverse.  The views continue to amaze for the next couple of miles until the trees (different beauty).  Down, down to Dosewallips.  There were a few down trees on this part of the trail which were all under or over, not an issue.

Dosewallips camp was mosquito free (yay!) and thankfully we found a nice spot despite no reservation needed and it being a Saturday.  The hike out from Dose was easy, no obstacles.

I backpacked up and over Marmot Pass and stayed two nights at Boulder Shelter.  On the second day I day-hiked to Home Lake and Constance Pass.

As others have noted, the trail up to Marmot Pass has more steep parts than the trail description notes, particularly the part right after the first campsite (maybe called Shelter Camp?) heading up to Camp Mystery.  But the trail is in great condition and snow free.  When I got to Marmot Pass on Friday, it was totally fogged in, but coming back up on Sunday was perfectly clear, with views all the way to the Cascades.

The hike from Marmot Pass down to Boulder Shelter has a couple of snow patches to navigate, or at least did as of the end of June when I'm writing this report.  The hike from Boulder Shelter to Home Lake is a pretty incredible ridge hike with wildflowers and views across the valley on a partly cloudy day.  There's one rushing stream that's going to get your feet wet and one snow patch to cross on that stretch.

The trip up to Constance Pass from Home Lake had some intermittent tricky snow patches that seemed to be quickly melting, making parts of the trail basically a stream -- but no snow on the trail at the top along the ridge.

First backpack of the 2025 season! Had a partly cloudy week with a few rain showers.

Trailhead is about 2.5 hour drive from Seattle via Tacoma Narrows and Hood Canal bridges. Easy drive in on Dosewallips road to the end, with a few sections of small potholes. Three other cars parked at 2 PM on a Monday afternoon. Hiked in from road end to Dose Forks, where we camped for three nights. Dosewallips road and the trail between Dosewallips campground and Dose Forks in fine condition. Very small muddy patches and a couple of blowdowns but all easy to navigate. Took the low route passing the washout, only noticed the new trail up and over on the way back out. The waterfall before the campground never disappoints!

We had the Dose Forks campsite all to ourselves, only saw three groups of people on the way in and a solo hiker and a couple on the way back out on Thursday morning. Several good, open flat spots here for a tent. Easy access to the river for water. Cleaned up some leftover trash from past visitors. Still can't quite figure out why people burn cans in the fire and then leave them behind. Privy at this site is in good shape.

Day-hiked the west fork Dosewallips river on Tuesday, to about halfway between Big Timber and Diamond Meadows. This trail had a few more trees across the trail, maybe a dozen total, all of which either had social trails to bypass or were easy to hop over. Otherwise, tread in good condition, no problem crossing the few streams that don't have bridges.

Wednesday took a hike up Constance Pass trail for about the first thousand feet of climb. The connector trail from the west fork/main fork junction had a handful of blowdowns across it. One looked fairly new; we took a moment to trim off all the branches to make getting over it easier. Trail up to Constance pass is little brushy, but nothing higher than my waist. Trail was still easy to follow, tread in fine shape. Not terribly steep, but the switchbacks just keep going. We were feeling a bit lazy and out of shape, so we turned back after the first mile. No signs of snow at all except on the tops of the nearby peaks.

Fauna: five deer, one solo and two pairs. A few birds around the river, including one that was diving in the river for food around the bridge at Dose Forks. A couple of hummingbirds. One bald eagle zipped by, heading up river one late afternoon. A couple of chipmunks and some squirrels.

Flora: lots of paintbrush shoots, not much in full flower yet except a couple of rhododendrons.

Bugs: nothing biting. Some bees feeding near campsite, but not bothersome. Didn't need any repellent.

Hiked back out Thursday morning under full cloud cover with some sprinkles of rain. Always easier making good time going downhill. Thanks for another delightful experience, Olympic!

Quick overnight trip to Constance Pass before the weather turns cold and wet! It was well worth it.

We started at the Upper Dungeness Trailhead and camped at Home Lake, which we had entirely to ourselves.

The Dungeness and Constance Pass trails are in excellent condition. Beyond the Boulder Shelter, the trail becomes more primitive, but there are no major obstacles.

The views from Constance Pass are stunning, with Mt. Constance and Warrior Peak rising above, and the lush Dosewallips Valley spread out below.

Two night backpacking trip took us out to the Dosewallips Road trailhead where parking was packed on Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend and two days later it was completely empty.  The long road walk up to the old car campground is pleasant and mostly shaded.  We didn't check out the riverside option at the first washout so can't speak to those conditions.  The big hill climb before you reach the old campground is mostly exposed.   The NPS is removing signs of old- no more notice of the Elkhorn campground (where they do not want people to go), no more picnic tables at the old Dosewallips camp, and we got to see the last of the helicopter flights taking out debris from the ranger station, bathrooms, and shed.  But they have installed a new privy and a bike rack! at the old car camp.  Bear lockers are still there thankfully.  NPS even removed the old kiosk (that had been half buried) so there is no actual sign at the start of the actual  Dosewallips trailhead, just look at the back of the campground and you will find it.  I will say, the "creepy" factor has been removed along with all of the old car campground components.  It is nice to see it looking more like a backcountry camp spot but it was pretty neat to see nature taking over all of the human features.  

On to Dose Forks is only about 1.5 miles from the car campground and a gentle, shaded grade takes you to the forked sign for either Anderson pass or Hayden pass.  We set up camp at Dose Forks along the river.  The trek up to Constance Pass is a side trail off of the East Fork trail.  According to my Green Trails map, from the start, it should be about 5 miles to Constance Pass.  Most of these miles are in the shade and follow switchbacks up with some peekaboo views back across the river valley.  I was surprised at how green and lush the salal and Rhodies looked seeing that it is almost the end of summer, but the late rain must have been refreshing.  As we closed in on the treeline, we passed at least four running streams, one of which took over the trail and quite a few massive marmot holes.  Some re-routing would be nice here but I know the trail maintenance backlog is long.  A quick stop for lunch in the shade just shy of Sunnybrook Meadows gave me a peak of the views ahead.  Sunnybrook Meadows has a small tarn that was the only water source beyond the four streams and it was chock full of tadpoles.  Dry conditions all of the way up to the pass meet you as well as shale/rocky washouts with very little room for error.  There is one particularly large shale section that does have a couple of cairns to mark the trail.  At the pass, there is no sign to greet you but the 360 degree views provide your reward.  I will save the other side for another trip.  We did not pass or see a single person on the up and down and had the camp at Dose Forks to ourselves on Monday night.  The solitude was quite enjoyable.  We did see quite a few grouse on the way back down and managed to scare one (as well as me).  They really do act like chickens.  

Question- We saw at least three white donut shaped markers up in the trees along the way.  Are they some sort of elevation marker?  One was located on a fallen tree.