Duckabush River — Monday, Aug. 7, 2000

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

4 day trip up to Heart Lake from Staircase and back. Beautiful weather the whole time, but with plenty of bugs (mostly black flies & deer flies, bring deet!) following our every step. NF Skokomish was cleared to just beyond 9 stream, with a trail crew working its way up to First Divide. From 9 stream to First Divide there's plenty of large tricky blowdowns, that, combined with the steep grade, made for some slow going. From First Divide to the Upper Duck, a group of 3 backcountry rangers had just finished clearing the trail, and it is in great shape. There is one patch of icy snow just on the north side of First Divide that is easily avoided by going through a meadow. From the Upper Duck camp to Heart Lake there was 2 avalanches and 24 major blowdowns that required major rerouting or serious gymnastics to get over/under/through/around. There was also about 150 smaller ""stepover"" or ""bendunder"" blowdowns along the U. Duck to Heart Lake section. That section is also very poorly graded, with many steep ups and downs that are not indicated on the maps or in the guide books. Heart Lake is a gorgeous setting, and we had the entire LaCrosse basin to ourselves on a Sunday evening. From our camp we heard and saw several avalanches peeling off the glaciers on Mt. Duckabush. The trip back was more of the same. Strenuous but rewarding!