Mostly my trip reviews give trail status, trail work that needs to be done, and my general impression of the trail; this one will be a little different.
My wife and I hiked to Enchanted Valley and back in three nights/four days and it was awesome. The first day we went 7 miles and stayed at O'Neil, 7 more miles on the second day took us to Enchanted Valley and literally the best campsite of our lives, then back to O'Neil for another night, and on day 4 we hiked out. Overall we went 28 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation gain.
The waterfalls in the valley are jaw dropping, but the most amazing part of the hike to me were the giant trees that run the length of the trail. Imagine the entire Olympic Peninsula being covered with trees this size 200 years ago, sadly you don't have to imagine most of them being cut down.
We need to protect the wild places that are left and to do this we need more allies. Fortunately there is something relatively simple we can all do. Take people in your life for a walk in the woods.
There is something magic in a forest of 1,000+ year old trees, in a river that flows unimpeded by man made dams, in a herd of elk that has never learned to fear people. Go see this magic for yourselves, then share it with others. If we get enough people to care about it, then maybe we'll save it.
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