Views, berries and bears - Oh My!
This was an epic trip to remember. It was as close to perfect as any backpacking trip could be. Rapids, rivers, lakes, trees, mountains, all the berries you could eat and wildlife - plus nearly no bugs and clear skies.
- What Type of Trip? Six day thru hike.
- Where Did We Start? Staircase Rapids Ranger Station on the North Fork Skokomish River Trail.
- Where Did We End? Graves Creek Trailhead in the Quinault Rain Forest.
- Where Was Camp? Two Bear, Hart Lake (two nights), Enchanted Valley and O'Neil Creek.
- How About the Stats?
- Total mileage according my Garmin was 59.19 miles.
- Estimated elevation was 16,107 ft ascent and 16,355 ft descent.
- At least eight individual black bears. I stopped counting sightings at 14 on the second day in the LaCrosse Basin.
- How Busy was It? The overnight parking lot at Staircase was close to full when we arrived at about 9AM. Probably less than six spaces left. Once on the trail, we encountered a modest number of people. Nothing heavy until we reached the Enchanted Valley and O'Neil Creek. The Graves Creek Trailhead parking lot was completely full and lined up down the road when we exited on Saturday the 10th.
- How Were the Bugs? Nothing to write home about. Encountered a few mosquitos at Hart Lake in the early evening. Lots of flies at O'Neil Creek, but they were more interested in the shirt and socks I was drying in the sun than me.
- How Was the Weather? The first day was overcast, humid and misty. After that, the skies opened up and were clear. It was hot in areas exposed to the sun, like our camp site at Hart Lake.
- How Were the Roads? The paved roads around Lake Cushman to Staircase were great. Just a bit windy. Then once onto the last stretch on gravel it was a game of dodge the potholes. On the other end from Graves Creek on gravel, it was great. Then eventually turns to nicely paved road.
- What Else? The elevation gain on the final 2-ish miles from Nine Stream Camp to Two Bears is steep and relentless. There are some steep sections going up to Marmot Lake and then again to Hart Lake. The 6,000+ foot descent from O'Neil Pass to the East Fork Quinault River Valley relentless pounded my feet nearly the entire way. It felt great to soak them in the ice cold Quinault River that night before dinner.
Sharing a link to my blog of the adventure below, which includes more details, photos and videos.
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