Annual season opener to that enchanted Duckabush valley. The river's song is your constant companion on this intimate trail with mossy green margins. Before it climbs out of second growth into ancient forest you pass rusting relics of turn of the century logging. At any of the vistas on Big Hump on can hear the lusty calls of grouse, thrush, or the whirring of hummingbirds. It descends back to the vigorous crystal green waters of the Duck at 5 miles. Mabey a dozen blowdowns but none too troublesome. Lights of Seattle visible from atop Big Hump at night.

Early start = solitude. Very nice hike. Still some wildflowers, lots of trillium and those yellow violets (yellowets?) The big hump is still there. Didn't see elk until the drive out.

We were meant to have a fine weekend. I've heard the low lands had cold windy and even snowy weather last weekend, but the Duckabush was our private Shangri-La! We had no precip, partial sun, no wind and fairly warm temps. We saw an elk, fresh bear sign(though no bear) at around 8 miles and no humans in the whole valley except a few short distance day hikers. We made 10 mile camp, though the last half of the trail was unmaintained. A fair amount of downed trees and three major washouts. We lost the trail at two of the washouts for a while. There was a washout between 7 and 8 miles which sort of was the trail. After wandering the shrubs for a while I finally walked through the stream about 500 yards to find the trail exiting out of the stream bed. Absolutely no sign of snow or even recently melted snow though. Nice campsites about every 2 miles, but bearwire only at 10 mile camp. Just before 10 mile camp the trail is obliterated for about 50 yards. Altogether a fine experience!

Thanks to other positive trip reports on this trail, we picked the Duckabush on this sunny, spring day. And we were glad we did. The trail is in excellent condition, no blow-downs (as far as we travelled), little and easily avoidable mud and to our delight, we identified at least 14 blooming wildflowers. Notables included white fawn lilies, chocolate lilies, scarlet paintbrush, wild ginger, calypso lilies and triliums. Had lunch on Big Hump and enjoyed the view. A good time was had by all.

Ahh, the Olympics. Sparkling water, fresh air, trails in perfect condition, no pets. On the Duckabush, that restriction kicks in at the national park boundary, about 6 1/2 miles from the parking area. This was plenty of room for Daisy and me to hike to our hearts' content. The trail starts out with a gentle one-mile climb up Little Hump, descends a short way to river level, and then follows the river more or less for another mile. About the time you start climbing up the steep section to Big Hump, you will notice that the forest has changed to very old growth. The false summit of Big Hump has some excellent views up and down the valley, with the Cascades visible in the far distance. Some of the switchbacks up to the true summit were carved right into the cliff face, but still maintain a doable grade. There are several places where water drips down cliffs or boulders in numerous tiny streams coming off of each strand of moss. The walking was a delight due to the lack of snow, the great trail condition, and the perfect weather. Only three people used the trail that day, based on the trail register, cars in the lot, and people met on the trail. The travel time to the trailhead was no worse than some Cascade hikes, about 2 1/2 hours including the relaxing ferry ride. The only bummer was the $16 the WSF extorted from me. Their motto should be, ""Go ahead, drive thru Tacoma, see if we care!""