Dosewallips River Road, West Fork Dosewallips River, LaCrosse Pass, Duckabush River & O'Neil Pass — Tuesday, Jul. 30, 2024

This report is for a three-night "lollipop" route of 51 miles starting from Dosewallips River Road TH, traversing Lacrosse Pass, O'Neil Pass, Anderson Pass then returning back down the Dosewallips.  Overall, route conditions were mixed, as expected for a trip of this distance in Olympic National Park, with great trail along the Dosewallips and north Lacrosse Pass, but extensive downed logs on the south side of Lacrosse Pass, and areas of extensive brush crowding the trail, especially the south side of Lacrosse Pass and the Duckabush Trail.  On 2 August back at the trailhead signs indicated a mule team was on trail, so hopefully more progress was made on maintenance in this area.

Dosewallips Road trail is in good condition with all logs removed.  As this was my first trip in this area, it was fascinating to see how quickly the forest has reclaimed much of the roadbed, and to imagine what it was like to drive all the way up to the old campground.

West Fork Dosewallips is also in good condition with evidence of fairly recent trail re-benching and drainage work in places and no major blowdowns.

Lacrosse Pass Trail shows evidence of upwards of 20 or so blowdowns recently cleared, making the steady climb south to the pass pleasantly unencumbered.  Thank you logout crews!  As seems to be the case on most higher mountain routes, this trail narrows significantly as it traverses the steep slope through the high meadow where the first extensive brush is encountered.  If climbed early in the day you will come away wet from the knees down and pour water from your shoes or boots from pushing your way through the dewy undergrowth.  Additionally, the upslope brush crowding the trail has the tendency to push you to the downhill side of the trail and there is little room to work with.  Be careful where you place your feet or you might step off and take a tumble, as I almost did.

The south side of the trail starts out beautifully with relatively clear trail and great views of the Duckabush valley, Mount Steel, and Mount Duckabush, however the lower portions of the trail have about an equal number of uncleared log blowdowns as the north side has cleared, with muddy scrambles around some of them.  About 1/4 mile from the Duckabush, the Lacrosse Pass Trail becomes what is fairly described as primitive, disappearing altogether in places amongst alder and other brush trees.  If you plan to climb north to Lacrosse Pass near the end of a long hot day, be mentally prepared for this stretch.  Neither my maps or trail signage designate this a primitive trail so I can only imagine it is the result of maintenance backlogs.

Duckabush River Trail, though more pleasant in grade (until the last steep mile to Marmot Lake), has also not seen extensive logout and brushing work recently.  Climbing out of Marmot Lake to O'Neil Pass the tread remains consistent and clear until unexpectedly in the high meadow it is overtaken by alder saplings and small evergreens for a stretch.  Many of these trees are growing directly on the trail and there are well-worn detours around them. The views from O'Neil Pass of Duckabush and Mount Anderson peaking out are beautiful.

O'Neil Pass Trail down to the East Fork Quinalt is in generally good condition, though the tread is narrow in sections, there are some minor washouts and blowdowns, and it crosses numerous brushy slopes.  Halfway through this section I observed a bear gorging on huckleberries.

East Fork Quinalt is in good condition for the very steep, barely 2 miles up to Anderson pass.  In the heat of midday, the switchbacks take you agonizingly back and forth from cool shady forest into the brushy and exposed rock and boulder field as the trail climbs upward.

The West Fork Dosewallips trail back down to the intersection with Lacrosse Pass Trail is in similar good condition as the lower portion, with a handful of minor blowdown obstacles.

Bug conditions at the start and end of this trip were negligible with no mosquitoes, however flies of all varieties abounded on the climb to O'Neil and Anderson Passes on 31 July and 1 August.  Nothing seemed to bite, just highly annoying.

After recently hiking in the Sierras, this return to ONP was like going from the desert to the jungle.  Great views of Mount Anderson for much of the trip, and many opportunities to cool off in the Dosewallips River - I highly recommend the perfect swimming hole beneath the bridge at Dose Forks!