I have done this one before as a day hike, but this time I went with my wife and two friends as an overnight adventure. We got to 5 mile camp at around 1:30, and there were already a few tents set up. We were looking for solitude, but we had a good time with our neighbors and their dogs. After we got settled, we walked up another 15 minutes and did a little jumping in the water. Beautiful place to hang out and cool off. The water was quite frigid, so we didn't hang out in the water very long. It was a nice evening, and even though the cloud cover came in, our things stayed pretty dry. We left about 9:15 in the morning to head back, and the weather was a little cooler with some mist. Overall, a great place for an overnighter.

My sister and I completed a four-day, four-night backpacking trip from Graves Creek to the Duckabush River trailhead. This A-to-B route of about 50 miles gave us access to parts of the peninsula’s interior that I’ve never been able to visit before: Enchanted Valley, Anderson Pass and Lacrosse Pass, and the national park sections of the Duckabush trail. This was definitely hard, and I’m still sore writing this, but it was totally worthwhile. And hard! (Did I say that already?)

Long story short

Pros: hiking west-east across a large stretch of the peninsula, amazing views from two different mountain passes, passing through Enchanted Valley, bear wires at each site meant leaving the bulky canisters at home.

Cons: Overgrown trail headed east from the Lacrosse Trail/Duckabush junction until close to the national park boundary (a roughly 10-mile portion?).

Short story long

We began our trip on Monday evening, when we got dropped off at the Graves Creek drive-up campground. Apart from a sprinter van being broken down on the road, it was an uneventful drive to our campsite. We had a peaceful spot by the river, and in the morning, we awoke to misty weather typical of the Quinault area.

After a short walk to the trailhead, we started down toward Pony Bridge. Day #1 was probably our most mellow, both from a mileage and an elevation gain/loss perspective. Still, it was my first day backpacking in a while, so I felt stiff and creaky. But we made it to our reserved campsite at Pyrites Creek around 2 or 3. Like I said, it was nice to have a bear wire here—and at our other two sites (Camp Siberia and Ten-Mile). Our afternoon was spent setting up tents, napping in a hammock, pumping water, and lounging around.

Day #2 started around 8am, and after three miles of hiking we reached the gate and subsequent foot bridge that marked our entrance into the Enchanted Valley. It was a beautiful, quiet morning in the valley, and we took a packs-off break to snack and rest before beginning our climb up to Anderson Pass. Along the way, we saw the largest known hemlock, the turn-off for O’Neil Pass, and a host of berry bushes. Eventually, we reached Anderson Pass around 1, and after a short hike downhill, we arrived at Camp Siberia. After setting up camp, I decided to grab some water and do the day hike to the Anderson moraine/lake. It was well worth it, and in the morning, my sister got up early to check it out too.

Day #3 was (in my view) our hardest day of the trip. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that at the outset! The day’s hike started as expected, with relatively flat hiking that slowly turned uphill in the few miles before Lacrosse Pass. After some huffing and puffing, we made it to our high point for the day around lunchtime. It was hazy up high, though we still had nice views of Mt Skokomish and the surrounding peaks. On our way down, about a mile before the Duckabush trail junction, the Lacrosse trail deteriorated considerably: blowdown, little rockslides, and overgrown portions. Once we arrived at the Duckabush trail and turned east, the overgrowth became much denser. There are probably a few reasons for this: it’s a not-so-popular stretch of trail, it sits in that gray area between the national park and national forest, and it receives plenty of water from streams draining into the Duckabush. No matter the explanation, we were consistently pushing our way through branches as we hiked for the next 5-6 miles until arriving at Ten-Mile camp. It wasn’t enough to hamper navigation, just enough to slow us down and frustrate us. We reached Ten-Mile later than any other day of the trip, then quickly ate, soaked our feet in the cold river, and went to bed.

Our last day of hiking started in much the same way as our previous one ended: negotiating an overgrown trail for about 5 miles. As we entered the national forest, the trail began to improve, and by the time we were climbing toward Big Hump, I was no longer getting hung up on branches! Our lovely driver and canine co-pilot met us around Big Hump, and we finished our hike back to the trailhead all together.

I am super happy we did this memorable and unique (to me) hike. The highlights were Anderson moraine, our mountain pass views, and being able to finish our backpacking trip with some day-hiking companions on the Duckabush side. If anyone is looking for an A-to-B backpack through the Olympics—one where permits are relatively easy to secure—I’d suggest this one. I’d also suggest doing it from west to east; I wouldn’t have enjoyed doing Lacrosse pass the opposite way (from Duckabush to West Fork Dosewallips).

Was out on the Duckabush with a WTA work party today. We went in about 2.5 miles to work on constructing a rock retaining wall. The trail over the first 2.5 miles was in very good condition. Lots of evidence of recent WTA work parties between check steps, improved drainage, and tread work.

On the way out we appreciated all the ripe berries along the trail. This trail also offers great views of the river and a lovely forest. Road to the trailhead involves just a couple of miles on a gravel road which is in pretty good condition. 

I hiked this trail as part of WTA's Hike-a-Thon Fundraiser. Support WTA so they can continue work on trails like this: https://give.wta.org/AlisonGale

This report is for a three-night "lollipop" route of 51 miles starting from Dosewallips River Road TH, traversing Lacrosse Pass, O'Neil Pass, Anderson Pass then returning back down the Dosewallips.  Overall, route conditions were mixed, as expected for a trip of this distance in Olympic National Park, with great trail along the Dosewallips and north Lacrosse Pass, but extensive downed logs on the south side of Lacrosse Pass, and areas of extensive brush crowding the trail, especially the south side of Lacrosse Pass and the Duckabush Trail.  On 2 August back at the trailhead signs indicated a mule team was on trail, so hopefully more progress was made on maintenance in this area.

Dosewallips Road trail is in good condition with all logs removed.  As this was my first trip in this area, it was fascinating to see how quickly the forest has reclaimed much of the roadbed, and to imagine what it was like to drive all the way up to the old campground.

West Fork Dosewallips is also in good condition with evidence of fairly recent trail re-benching and drainage work in places and no major blowdowns.

Lacrosse Pass Trail shows evidence of upwards of 20 or so blowdowns recently cleared, making the steady climb south to the pass pleasantly unencumbered.  Thank you logout crews!  As seems to be the case on most higher mountain routes, this trail narrows significantly as it traverses the steep slope through the high meadow where the first extensive brush is encountered.  If climbed early in the day you will come away wet from the knees down and pour water from your shoes or boots from pushing your way through the dewy undergrowth.  Additionally, the upslope brush crowding the trail has the tendency to push you to the downhill side of the trail and there is little room to work with.  Be careful where you place your feet or you might step off and take a tumble, as I almost did.

The south side of the trail starts out beautifully with relatively clear trail and great views of the Duckabush valley, Mount Steel, and Mount Duckabush, however the lower portions of the trail have about an equal number of uncleared log blowdowns as the north side has cleared, with muddy scrambles around some of them.  About 1/4 mile from the Duckabush, the Lacrosse Pass Trail becomes what is fairly described as primitive, disappearing altogether in places amongst alder and other brush trees.  If you plan to climb north to Lacrosse Pass near the end of a long hot day, be mentally prepared for this stretch.  Neither my maps or trail signage designate this a primitive trail so I can only imagine it is the result of maintenance backlogs.

Duckabush River Trail, though more pleasant in grade (until the last steep mile to Marmot Lake), has also not seen extensive logout and brushing work recently.  Climbing out of Marmot Lake to O'Neil Pass the tread remains consistent and clear until unexpectedly in the high meadow it is overtaken by alder saplings and small evergreens for a stretch.  Many of these trees are growing directly on the trail and there are well-worn detours around them. The views from O'Neil Pass of Duckabush and Mount Anderson peaking out are beautiful.

O'Neil Pass Trail down to the East Fork Quinalt is in generally good condition, though the tread is narrow in sections, there are some minor washouts and blowdowns, and it crosses numerous brushy slopes.  Halfway through this section I observed a bear gorging on huckleberries.

East Fork Quinalt is in good condition for the very steep, barely 2 miles up to Anderson pass.  In the heat of midday, the switchbacks take you agonizingly back and forth from cool shady forest into the brushy and exposed rock and boulder field as the trail climbs upward.

The West Fork Dosewallips trail back down to the intersection with Lacrosse Pass Trail is in similar good condition as the lower portion, with a handful of minor blowdown obstacles.

Bug conditions at the start and end of this trip were negligible with no mosquitoes, however flies of all varieties abounded on the climb to O'Neil and Anderson Passes on 31 July and 1 August.  Nothing seemed to bite, just highly annoying.

After recently hiking in the Sierras, this return to ONP was like going from the desert to the jungle.  Great views of Mount Anderson for much of the trip, and many opportunities to cool off in the Dosewallips River - I highly recommend the perfect swimming hole beneath the bridge at Dose Forks!

Red huckleberries, thimbleberries, blackberries, black capped raspberries, blueberries, and oregon grape were everywhere -- all ripe at once! The trail is very well-maintained. The only way the trail could have been improved is with some vegetation management after Big Hump.

The large campsite at 5-mile camp was full, so we continued on to the first small site which peaceful and perfect for one 2P tent. No bugs at all! 

It was great to come back to this trail after 12 years away. I spent two weeks on a backcountry crew here in 2012, one year after the Big Hump fire. It was nice to see all the vegetation regrowth! Fireweed galore.