Enchanted Valley via East Fork Quinault River — Saturday, Apr. 26, 2025

We did a single overnight at Enchanted Valley this weekend, a perfect early-season backpacking trip 😊

THE ROAD / PARKING

South Shore Road is closed. We took North Shore Road to get to Graves Creek trailhead. The road to the trailhead is okay — many potholes in the gravel parts of North Shore Road and Graves Creek Road, but I think even low clearance vehicles should be fine.

When we got to the parking lot around 7 on Saturday morning, the lot was pretty full, though several spots were available. We got back to the trailhead around 1:30 on Sunday and the lot had cleared out quite a bit. 

The vault toilet in the lot is 5/5, one of the best I've ever seen; ready for peak season! Clean, plenty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer. There's a bear-safe garbage receptacle next to it. 

THE TRAIL

Trail is overall in great shape! Beautiful green hike. 

Some big blowdowns past the first few miles, some of which required climbing over.

Some water crossings, which required careful rock hopping, and one right at the end before reaching the chalet, where we had to walk on a log (which was slippery in the morning when we hiked out). My trail runners stayed generally dry the whole trip. On the flip side, you won't need to worry much about water sources! 

CAMP

Tons of campsites we had to choose from at Enchanted Valley.

There were 2 privies. The one I investigated was in great shape. There are slits big enough in the walls for you to see if someone is using it, but small though for you to (mostly? somewhat?) have privacy. 

MISC.

I was hoping to maybe see a bear, but we didn't. We did see a herd of elk the morning we hiked out, which was cool! 

We didn't see many folks on our hikes in or out, though there were many folks camped at Enchanted Valley. 

We didn't camp at any of the campgrounds leading up to Enchanted Valley, but they all were quite empty and seemed to be in great shape. I imagine if you were to camp at any of them in the next couple of weeks, you'd find both solitude and a nice campsite. 

No snow, but the valley got very cold overnight. Some of the condensation on our tent in the morning (and there was a TON of it) had frosted over a bit when we woke up.