Enchanted Valley via East Fork Quinault River — Friday, May. 31, 2024

Loved finally crossing this one off the bucket list! We arrived at the trailhead around 9:30 on Friday morning. The parking area was nearly full. I set a leisurely pace for my first backpack of the year and we had a beautiful day in the forest, arriving at O’Neil Creek by 2:30 after some frequent stops to admire wildflowers. The camp is nice, we took the first site on the right, which had a lot of visual privacy and is right on the river. Camp privy is in relatively good condition. The campsites also had fire pits and some cut logs for seats, which was nice!

Saturday we left our bags and day hiked to the chalet and back to O’Neil. A very long day for me (8:30am-7pm with a long break at the chalet) but the miles are mostly very flat! A few downed trees to get over but easy to navigate. We saw a bear between Pyrites and the gate to the valley, and a small herd of elk with calves on the opposite river bank just about a half mile from O’Neil. Several other folks on the trail but it didn’t feel crowded at all! Sometimes we’d go an hour or more without seeing anyone.

Sunday we hiked from O’Neil back to the trailhead. This was the atmospheric river day and it was DUMPING rain. The trail was extremely muddy and waterlogged in many places, so the going was slow. We were so happy to have dry clothes in the car!

Lastly, if camping, bring bug spray - there were more mosquitoes than we expected this time of year!