Duckabush River — Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

I decided to celebrate MLK day with a dayhike up the Duckabush to 5 mile camp and back. The Duck is one of my favorite day hikes since you can get to views relatively quickly and the 50+ switchbacks up and down ""Big Hump"" provides a decent workout. The trail appears to have gone mostly unscathed from the October flood and recent heavy snows. There are a few small blowdowns along the trail but none presents problems for hikers. Near 5 mile camp the trail is obscured by a large snow bank, apparently caused by a snow slide that came off the south face of Mt. Jupiter. Snow levels appear to be around 3000 feet and rising. After cooking a pot of mac n' cheese for lunch at 5 mile, I returned to the trailhead, making for a great sunny mid January day in the Olympics.