Dosewallips River Road, Main Fork Dosewallips River, West Fork Dosewallips River, Anderson Glacier, Anderson Pass, O'Neil Pass, LaCrosse Basin, Duckabush River & Upper Duckabush — Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2025

Three of us did a 5-night, 57-mile hike to LaCrosse Basin with a tangent to Anderson Moraine.  We hiked up the old Dosewallips Rd, up the main fork Dosewallips Trail, up the West Fork Dosewallips Trail to Anderson Pass, up the Anderson Glacier spur trail to Anderson Moraine and Anderson Lake, down the E. Fork Quinault Trail to the junction with O'Neil Pass Trail, over O'Neil Pass to Marmot Lake, up the LaCrosse Basin Trail to Hart Lake, and out the Duckabush Trail.  

Trail conditions:

Dosewallips Trailhead to Anderson Pass:  Excellent.  Not a single log on the trail the whole way, and recently brushed out.  We owed our thanks to the ONP trail crew whom we met heading out as we were heading in.  They'd been working on restoration of the Siberia Camp shelter, a project still underway.

Anderson Glacier Trail:  Excellent.  One minor log on the trail, and recently brushed out.  The .7-mile trail from Anderson Pass is steep, but is well-graded for the most part.

E. Fork Quinault Trail from Anderson Pass to O'Neil Pass Trail:  Not bad.  Brushy in places, a couple of logs, and a couple of sketchy spots where the trail dips into stream gullies and the tread should be re-benched.

O'Neil Pass Trail: Okay.  About a dozen logs on the trail and a fair amount of brush.  There are several spots in the upper reaches where the tread is failing on steep scree slopes.

LaCrosse Basin Trail:  This is a steep, rough trail for the first half-mile till it tops out in the basin.  There was one log a couple hundred feet above Marmot Lake that was somewhat irksome to get past.  Once the trail tops out, the trails to Hart Lake and LaCrosse Lake were in fine shape.

Duckabush Trail to Upper Duckabush Camp:  There were only 5 logs in the 4-mile stretch between Marmot Lake and Upper Duckabush Camp.  But there was thick brush on much of the trail.

Duckabush Trail from Upper Duckabush Camp to ONP boundary:  This 10.5-mile stretch was in the worst condition of the whole route.  I counted 95 logs on the trail, about a dozen of which required some gymnastics to get past. There were many places where the brush was so thick you couldn't see the trail.  In the upper reaches, the brush was mostly salmonberry, but lower, around 10 Mile Camp, the trail was crowded by vine maple and Doug fir saplings.  There are several places where the trail seems to be at risk of disappearing completely.  About 3 miles west of 10 Mile Camp, near where Crazy Creek joins the Duckabush, a 30-ft section of trail has collapsed into the river gorge.  It's possible to work around this spot, but it's a bit sketchy and a remedy will require a few days' work by a trail crew.

About 2 miles west of 10 Mile Camp a pair of root balls blocks the trail, and a hard scramble above them is required.  Clearing this obstacle will be a big project.

Duckabush Trail from ONP boundary to trailhead:  This stretch was in good shape.  A bit of brush and a few logs, but pretty clear sailing past 5 Mile Camp.  There was one log on Big Hump and another just east of Little Hump, both easy step-overs.

Stream crossings:  As would be expected for this time of year, crossing streams wasn't a big challenge.  The two Duckabush crossings near Upper Duckabush Camp were rock-hops, as were all the other creeks.

Our trip: We left a car at Duckabush trailhead on Tuesday morning and drove to the Dosewallips trailhead.  Hiked 10.5 miles to Big Timber Camp, a roomy place with an intact bear wire and privy.  We saw no other hikers beyond Dose Campground, except for the ONP trail crew on their way out.  The skies were clear, and we saw no haze from the Bear Gulch fire.  There were plenty of ripe berries along the way.

On Wednesday we hiked 7 miles to Anderson Moraine.  Stopped at Siberia Camp for lunch and were impressed with the amount of work going into restoring the shelter.  The structural timbers are all in place, and a new shake roof has been started.  A member of the trail crew told us it should be done in a few more weeks.  Siberia Camp has a bear wire and privy, but no water source, as the creek near the shelter was dry.

When we reached Anderson Pass, we considered camping there, as there are several campsites scattered around the pass, and a shallow frog pond that would suffice for water.  But we decided to make the .7-mile, 500-ft climb to the lovely tarn below the Anderson Moraine, which is a far more scenic spot.  A bear can is essential here.  After making camp, we climbed to the top of the moraine for a good view of Anderson Lake and Mt Anderson, and then descended to Anderson Lake for a dip.  There was some smoke haze, but we still had good views of the spectacular terrain.  

On Thursday we descended to Anderson Pass, then dropped down the E. Fork Quinault Trail to the junction with O'Neil Pass Trail.  Smoke haze filled the E. Fork Quinault Valley.  We then made the long, fairly gradual, climb to O'Neil Pass.  The trail passes through a number of meadows, which we scanned for bears, but had no luck.  The east side of the pass had grand but hazy views of Mt Duckabush, Mt Steel, Mt LaCrosse, and the Duckabush Valley.

We passed Marmot Lake, where we saw nobody camped, and made the steep climb into LaCrosse Basin and Hart Lake, which we had to ourselves.  It's a lovely spot.  The campsite there has no privy or bear wire, so it's essential to have a bear can.

On Friday we took a leisurely ramble around LaCrosse Basin and took a dip in LaCrosse Lake.  We saw a bear near LaCrosse Lake, and another one by Hart Lake when we returned to camp.  As the afternoon grew late, more and more smoke haze filled the air, obscuring the views around us.  We'd planned on spending a second night at Hart Lake, but decided there was no point in sitting around breathing smoke, so we packed up and dropped 4.6 miles to Upper Duckabush Camp.  It's an uncommonly roomy camp under big trees, with a privy and bear wire.  We saw no other hikers.

On Saturday we hiked down the Duckabush about 11 miles to a nice site by the river about a half-mile before the ONP boundary.  There was a good swimming hole in the river.  We saw no other hikers the whole day.

On Sunday we hiked out the last 7 miles.  After Big Hump, we encountered two other parties of backpackers heading in, and a few day hikers.