As the latest victim of this infamous loop, I offer you some trip details:

Day 0: Got to Staircase TH at 6pm after work on Friday and had a very chill hike into Big Log for the night.

Day 1: Back on trail at first light and climbed up to First Divide before the sun had a chance to get over the eastern peaks. Down into the upper Duckabush valley and back up to Marmot Lake for an early afternoon lunch. Marmot Lake was a bit underwhelming, and in hindsight, we should have pushed on to Lake Lacross for a lunch break.

Lake Lacross was incredibly beautiful, and we couldn't help but stop and jump in for a swim. We also saw our first bear of the trip around here. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

From Lake Lacross, we opted for an off-trail alternate, which took us to the top of the ridge up a relatively easy granite field. Unfortunately, the scree on the north side of the ridge was not as straightforward and took quite a bit of time (and nerves) to descend. Eventually reconnecting with the O'Neil Pass trail and making camp for the night.

We shaved about 5 miles of trail of the day by taking the Lake Lacross alternate vs the O'Neil Pass trail, but I don't think we actually saved any time. Lake Lacross is definitely worth a visit, but I wouldn't suggest the alternate route to anyone not experienced & comfortable on steep scree fields.

Day 2: Back up at sunrise and a very cruisy 17 miles on the Enchanted Valley trail got us to the Graves Creek TH in the early afternoon. From here, it's 8 miles up to Lake Sundown.

Aside from one washout early on the trail that looked to have been fixed this year, it was very apparent that this trail is seldom hiked and even more seldom maintained. As a positive, we never actually lost the trail, so it was easy to navigate, but the climbs are steep, and the overgrowth is thick. We generally hike at 2.5/3mph, and in this section, we struggled to keep 1.5mph. Made it to Lake Sundown right as the last light was seeping out of the sky.

Day 3: You guessed it, back up at sunrise and hopefully for the day ahead. We started with a short climb up to Six Ridge Pass, had views back down into the Graves Creek and Quinault River Valleys, and wonderful glimpses of Mt Olympus off in the distance.

From here, it's up and down on the Six Ridge Trail, with a midway break at Belview Camp. Apart from the lower 1-2miles of trail closest to the NF Skokomish River, which looked like brush had been cleared within the last few years, this section of trail is just not maintained at all. Just like on the Graves Creek Trail, the actual trail was 99% easily navigatable, but the overgrowth was very thick, and the grade was very steep, making for another tough section. From Lake Sundown down to Big Log was 10 miles, and we again struggled to keep pace at 1.5mph.

Big Log back to Staircase TH was cruisy as always and we made it back to our cars by 4pm.

Overall, this route came in around 60 miles and 18,000ft of gain.


The only reason I can think for anyone to hike this loop is to be another one of the poor souls that can say they've done it.. Graves Creek & Six Ridge are seldom used trails for a reason - they are hard climbs (even without the overgrowth) with little to no reward.

Have fun out there!

aborted loop across anderson pass turned out and back to belview. i just don't have the patience for route finding apparently. six ridge is not terribly hard to navigate but deviates from the caltopo line at times and disappears in places; there are a few helpful cairns. seems to be a bit easier to follow going eastward in my opinion.

thank you to the WTA crew working on brushing out graves creek, which is quite overgrown in places. some blowdowns through here as well, nothing impossible to navigate but some gymnastics required. 

This was a 5-day trip. It all coincided with a heat wave, so things were brutally hot in most exposed areas, and I won't complain any more on that front. Bugs were moderately bad in damp subalpine areas, almost absent in dry montane areas; generally bug repellent was only needed in camp. I went in at the head of road on the S Fk Skokomish. The ONF portion of the trail was very well maintained, someone had very recently cut out all the deadfall (fresh chainsaw shavings). The ONP portion was easy to follow, with some brush and deadfall. There are decent campsites in ONF at (47.505, -123.476) and (47.520, -123.503), and one in ONP at (47.529, -123.513). Next came the Six Ridge trail. It breaks out into 4 legs. The first leg runs past Sundown Lake (ONP campsite) and climbs steeply to Six Pass. Although in 1934 the CCC built this to be a packhorse trail, it now has a very narrow tread, almost gone in places, with considerable brush and occasional deadfall. One or two places, falling off the trail might kill you. Still, easy enough to follow, and no snow. The second and longest leg follows the south side of Six Ridge east to the junction with the Seven Stream and Lake Success trails. If you've never heard of them, no surprise, they haven't been maintained in years. Amazingly this route was once considered for construction of a highway: https://npshistory.com/publications/olym/staircase-graves-creek-rd.pdf . This section of the trail is rough. It hasn't seen any maintenance in years. The footbed is usually visible, but sometimes vanishes entirely, especially at subalpine bogs; don't expect to have dry feet. A good map and GPS are essential. The brush is often dense, obscuring the trail, and there's a moderate amount of deadfall. The trail is almost always steep, going steeply up or steeply down, usually with a bog at the inflection point. There's a pretty nice campsite at (47.544, -123.499), though you'll have to go down the trail a bit to find water. I camped at McGarvey Lakes, (47.546, -123.488), a beautiful site although buggy. There's an ONP site, Belview, at (47.554, -123.456), a decent spot with room for up to about 5 tents. The third leg is pretty much on top of the Six Ridge. Views are spectacular in the open spots, but the trail is relentlessly steep up and down with extensive deadfall and there is no water. Mostly, the trail is easy to spot. The fourth leg drops from Six Ridge to the confluence of Six Stream with the N Fk Skokomish and again has no water at all, and is narrow, steep, brushy, and has quite a bit of deadfall despite past WTA efforts on this bit. Moving on... the trail up the N Fk Skokomish is practically a highway, with recent significant work done. No problems. I spent the night at Nine Stream, a pleasant and popular spot. Smooth sailing the next day over High Divide and down to Upper Dungeness. The trail is not maintained quite as well as the N Fk Skokomish, but still easy to follow, dry feet and little deadfall. The crossing of the Dungeness was dry feet, and the trail from there to Marmot Lake was in fine condition, though it could stand to be brushed out a bit. Marmot was popular, quite a few tents. Next day I followed the trail over O'Neill Pass and north to the N Fk Quinault; it's all in splendid condition, and swimming in wildflowers to boot. The trail up Anderson Pass was also in very good shape. Finally, the trail all the way down the Dose from Anderson has got crews working on it right now, and it's a beautiful thing, with freshly improved footbed, brush removed, new bridges and boardwalks where needed... no problems at all. Spent my last night at Big Timber (very popular site) and made it out to the Dose trailhead in just a few hours. Lots of dayhikers below the Dosewallips Campground, where they've just finished demolishing the old ranger station.

Over the Labor Day weekend, a friend and I hiked the Upper Fork Skokomish River Trail up to Sundown Pass, to Six Ridge Pass, up and down the six ridges, and finally exited via the Staircase Rapids trail. This trail was tough, tough, tough. From the trailhead start, the trail is pretty nice up to the upper Skokomish River crossing around 2.5 miles. We camped near the river our first night and were happy to see a trail crew camping nearby as well. No shortage of down trees up until the park boundary. We counted 43 to this point, some were tough, some took some time, but none were unpassable. Previous literature claims that the trail gets markedly worse after the National Park Boundary. We didn't notice this the trail seemed pretty good the rest of the way. While some parts were overgrown and thick, nothing was too bad provided you wear long pants, and preferably a long shirt as well. 

Sundown Pass has limited views, but felt great to get to the "top." The trail to Six Ridge Pass was up, up, up from there. Hanging out at the pass we took a nice lunch only to find a couple of hikers behind us. They walked past and we eventually saw them camped at the Belview campsite. We camped here also and there was no shortage of bugs. Spray the bug spray and get into the tent quickly. 

I was hoping that coming down from Six Ridge Pass the trail would level out and would be pleasurable. I was wrong. The trail ranges from 4400' to 3800' over and over again. Views were spectacular but you definitely earn them. Climb up up up, then down down down, up again. It worked us hard and some of the trails were pretty steep. Nothing that required all 4 limbs at once but got close a couple of times. We did lose the trail several times. Down trees make it easy to lose the trail, but with our GAIA app on our phones, we quickly found the trail. A true lifesaver. Sometimes the app is not exact, but as long as it gets you there within 10' of the trail. I'll take that any day. 

Coming down the switchbacks down into the staircase area the trail turned great. You can really tell the work the trail crews have done clearing and brushing this trail. It was great for us to finish on a nice and clean trail. After many, many tree climbs, this was a great way to end the hike. 

All in all, much tougher than we expected. Our average mile time was closer to 45 minutes. The weather was perfect, and we even saw a bear. Until next time Olympic National Park!

Overview:  It was a loop hike starting at the Graves Creek TH going through Enchanted Valley, up over O'Neil Pass, down through the Upper Duckabush, over First Divde, down the North Fork Skokomish, over Six Ridge, and down Graves Creek to the TH and my car.  

This report will go into more details as I move through each of those sections as the earlier sections tend to be more traveled and more reported on.  I will include comments in each on:  Trail; Water (availability), Mud, Brush, Blowdowns, and Bugs.  For Brush, I will use the following scale as I find "it is very brushy" very subjective when talking to people:

• 0 = clear, may as well be walking down a sidewalk
• 1 = some brush and sometimes it touches my legs but the path is clear
• 2 = yes the brush is reaching over the trail but I can still see there is a trail, I can see my steps just fine even if I need to push some brush out of the way.
• 3 = i can't see my feet.  I need to actively bush the brush out of the way to see what I am about step on (rock, root, a downstep, etc.).  

Feel free to comment and/or ask questions if more details are desired.

Enchanted Valley:   This hike was pretty uneventful as i've been up this way before.  The biggest factor was just the heat.

• Trail:  good condition, no complaints
• Water:  good availability
• Mud:  minimal
• Brush: 0
• Blowdowns:  minimal if any
• Bugs:  minimal

Not much to say about Enchanted Valley.  It is a gorgeous valley to visit and I recommend the hike.  I'm just not going to spend much time on this one as this is well written about by many others so I can't really add much.

O'Neil Pass:  I got up early to tackle this because of the heat.  I did a 5:30am departure because I wanted to get up and far along as possible before the heat of day kicked in.

• Trail:  good condition, no complaints
• Water:  good availability all along the route
• Mud:  minimal
• Brush: 1 overall.  maybe a small section with 2
• Blowdowns:  minimal 
• Bugs:  minimal

O'Neil pass trail has some really nice views over the Enchanted Valley, Anderson Peak, Anderson Glacier, and is worth doing in my opinion.  A lot of people talk up Marmot Lake.  It is a nice area and I was originally going to camp there but due to my early start I arrived around 11am or noon and didn't want to hang out in the sun/heat all afternoon. Given the unknowns around Six Ridge (I didn't know how good/or bad it would be) and the heat, I wanted to get a few more miles while I still had the afternoon so I decided to proceed to Upper Duckabush so I would be in the shade.  I would recommend Marmot Lake - and Heart Lake and LaCrosse Lake - I just had different goal and timeframe.

Upper Duckabush:  This trail is not actively maintained it seems.  This is where blowdowns, brush, and general trail conditions go downhill some.

• Trail:  meh.  some creek bed walking
• Water:  Can't remember, I refilled up at Marmot Lake so I didn't need any.
• Mud:  moderate overall (on the low-end)
• Brush: 1-2 overall.  
• Blowdowns:  5+ (maybe 10+)
• Bugs:  minimal

I found the Upper Duckabush trail from Marmot Lake to the Upper Duckabush Camp not well maintained.  When compared to some "primitive" trails, this could potentially qualify.  it was easy to follow overall though and it is really just sections of brushy, creek bed walking/mud, and blowdowns.

The Upper Duckabush Camp I found very nice.  There is a nice swimming hole where you cross into camp and the the camp itself has some really nice flat spots.  i don't know how much use it gets but I don't think much.  There was one other person there the night I stayed and that is only because they didn't want to continue up to Marmot Lake because the heat made it a long day for them coming from Nine Stream.  I would recommend the Upper Duckabush Camp and was happy I pushed through to it.  The bugs were not bad at night either.

First Divide:  This section was intended to be from Upper Duckabush Camp to Camp Pleasant (but I pushed on to Six Ridge).   Another early 5:15am start to beat the heat.

• Trail:  between meh and good
• Water:  Good. Home Sweet Home, Two Bear, Nine Stream, Camp Pleasant
• Mud:  moderate overall (on the low end)
• Brush: 1 overall.  
• Blowdowns:  10+, majority on the Duckabush side, some on the Skokomish side.  None too nasty imo
• Bugs:  became annoying as I approached Home Sweet Home and over First Divide

Overall, the conditions were good.  The Skokomish side of First Divide is in better condition than the Duckabush side.  Less blowdowns, less brush, etc.  None of the blowdowns were that bad.  Generally speaking you can make some pretty good time on the Skokomish side.  There is a river ford at Nine Stream.  I do want to give a shout out to a couple very nice ladies who picked up my water filter and delivered it to me at Camp Pleasant, right when I figured out I had left it there.  THANK YOU so much!

Six Ridge (east to west):  Skokomish to Belview.  This was a big unknown for me minus knowing from BeccaW that work was done on the approach up from the Skokomish side. 

• Trail:  good
• Water:  Pack water from the creek ford at the start all the way to Belview (or 0.2 miles shy).  i took 3L because of the heat
• Mud:  Yes - near Belview, elsewhere none
• Brush: 1-2.  2 from ~2500ft-3500ft.  
• Blowdowns:  3+/- from where the trail work stopped around 3500ft (if I recall correctly).  One was a little tricky.
• Bugs:  minimal on the trail - horrible at Belview 

First off, a big thank you to BeccaW and crew on their work on Six Ridge.  It was really good and helpful.  there was work done on the trail itself but the it looks like the bulk was on dealing with blowndowns.  This was a big help for a couple reasons. a) it made the climb that much easier not having to cross over them, b) it helped mark the path since you could see the cuts and knew you had to go through them.  The hardest part of this part of Six Ridge was the heat.  Luckily, given the E-W nature of the ridge, and the fact the trail up seems to be predominately on the north side, I had plenty of shade from the sun until the section that is at ~4400 ft and you are on the south side of the ridge. 

The big worry coming into this was the talk of Six Ridge being brushy and trail finding:  Honestly it wasn't that bad and the brush was huckleberry (unfortunately the berries were ready).  Only maybe once or twice did they cause a pause of whether or not I was on the right path and a quick check of the GPS indicated I was and that was quickly confirmed by seeing the trail.  Only one other time did the path really come into question that required a little looking around and that was due to a messy blowdown above there the trail crew had finished up.

While on the ridge itself you do cross over and back a few time from the north side to the south side.  This includes some down and ups but nothing bad.  The only part I think folks may find a be more nerve racking would be around 4400ft while on the south side.  you do have a climb on a fairly steep side and there are parts of the trail that just aren't as wide as the used to be.  I found it fine, but could see where folks may get a little nervous.

From there you hit the middle of the upper ridge and it is quite smooth sailing (not that it was really all that bad before).  I had to cross a couple of small snow patches/fields but you are in the middle so there is no danger.  I did it with just hiking poles and no microspikes or anything.  (for me, these couldn't have come at a better time as due to the heat and sun exposure I used some of the snow to cool me off).  From there it is a nice stroll to the junction of Belview trail and the Mount Olson Way Trail.  it is very clearly marked which way to go.

The trail to Belview is in good condition and easy to follow.  The only tricky part is as you approach Belview (after the creek that is 0.2 miles from the site) somewhere the trail must actually turn left and down hill to avoid the marshy area you run into if you keep following the trail straight.  I ended up following the trail into the marshy area and connecting up with the trail at the south end.  I had full intention of then backtracking the trail to see where it diverted but didn't - sorry.

Belview camp is nice but was very buggy.  It is understandable given the marshy nature of the area.

The trip up to Belview took me longer than it should but that was much more due to my frequent stops in the shade to hydrate and lower my heart rate due to the heat than trail finding or the trail condition.

When leaving Belview the next morning the actual trail follows between the tent sites and the marshy area even though there is a trail that looks better used and cuts up in between the tent sites into the woods.  If you take this latter way to avoid the marshy area, just make sure to head to the right (uphill) to connect back up with the actual trail. Summary from Belview to Sundown Lake

• Trail:  good
• Water:  Plenty available along the way
• Mud:  Yes, shortly after Belview and in some of the high alpine meadows
• Brush: 1-2
• Blowdowns:  none I'm quite sure
• Bugs:  annoyance but not as bad as Belview.  Just don't stop too long in one place

The trail is in good condition overall and trail following is fairly straight forward with a few exceptions.  These are all where the trail hits marshy areas.  Shortly after leaving Belview (and after regaining the main trail out of camp) you will hit another marshy area.  as you enter it you will end up climbing uphill again.  After a small climb the trail becomes obvious and you continue the westward trek.  There may be one or two of these smaller marshy areas you have to cross shortly later but the route finding was still ok.  The only other times route finding is an "issue" was in McGravey Lakes - but this is no different from any other high alpine meadow route finding - i.e. the trail seemingly disappears, you stop, look around, explore a couple forward options and you find the trail.  From there, up and over Six Ridge Pass and down to Sundown Lake it is straight forward.

I really enjoyed McGravey Lakes.  I found that area quite beautiful with nice views.

Overall Six Ridge: 

• The brush isn't as bad as people make it out to be.  It was no worse than the Upper Duckabush imo (and that is not a "primitive" trail).  
• Trail finding is overall minimal.  I had my GPS and CalTopo.  Did I reference them?  Yes but 95% of the time just to verify I was on the right trail because everything else I read said there are a bunch of game trails and it is easy to get on the wrong one.  I didn't find that to be the case at all.  5% of the time, I need it to do a slight course correction or simplify a quick search.  I'm glad I had the GPS with me (honestly my green trails map wouldn't have helped much because of the granularity needed - it was helpful for the big picture route) because it just provided a level of assurance and verification.
• The only real complaints I would have are:  mud (primarily in / out of Belview area), bugs (from Belview on through Sundown Lake), and the heat (which died down my last day from Belview to Graves Creek TH.

Now my for what you really need to know - Graves Creek

Graves Creek:  From Sundown Lake to the TH.  I left Belview at 6am and made the traverse to Sundown Lake (~5 miles) by 9am.  As mentioned above, besides shortly after leaving Belview, the traverse is fairly easy to follow and quite beautiful all the way to Sundown Lake.  Once leaving Sundown Lake it is an easy stroll to the junction of Graves Creek trail and Sundown Pass/South Fork Skokomish trail.  All is well until about 3500ft and this is where following picks up (note this does not apply from approx. 2 miles from the TH to the TH where recent work has been done):

• Trail:  horrible
• Water:  Available along the way
• Mud:  Yes, throughout
• Brush: 3
• Blowdowns:  I lost count after 15
• Bugs:  annoying

Details:

• Trail:  a lot of creek bed walking - stones, roots
• Mud: whole sections of just mud walking, sections meaning multiple meters at a time
• Brush:  Let's see.  Huckleberry-check, ferns-check, nettles-check, devil's club-check, thick and over the trail - check.
• Blowdowns - it has the whole variety.  the climb over kind, the climb under kind, the hike around kind.
• All of the above at once?  Yep. there was that as well.

Graves Creek has had some recent work done from the TH to approximately 2 miles in (the 2nd major gully you'd have to cross if coming from GC TH).   I was hoping it would've been clear sailing from Success Creak Camp (non-existent) to the TH but that wasn't the case.  But let me back up.

Once you get on the Graves Creek primitive trail shortly after Sundown Lake you enter the above conditions if you weren't walking in a creek bed, you were walking through mud, or walking through brush where you couldn't see your feet, or a combination of all.  Then you would hit a large blow down.  This continued for the ~6 miles.  I actually did more "route finding" on this section than I did on Six Ridge.  It just wasn't fun - I don't know how else to describe it. 

I was hoping once I forded the creek ~3.2 miles from the trailhead (at Success Creek) it would just get easier but it didn't until I cross a dry gully about 3/4-1 mile along.  In order to safely get down into the gully I dropped my poles in and then grabbed the trunk of a maple growing out the side and slowly dropped in.  The down trail side was easier to climb up and out of.   I understand why the trail crew stopped where it did.  The gully crossing needs work before they can continue up the trail.

Shortly later I started to see some of the very good trail work a crew had done earlier this year.  I do want to emphasize a big thank you to that crew.  When you see some of the blowdowns they cut through it does leave you wondering how a hiker would get past it - i'm talking about a 5ft+ (?) Dougfir.  Not only did that crew clear large trees but worked the trails itself.  The brush wasn't as bad and they built water ways to prevent mud and trail erosion.  Very good work - I just wish it came sooner.

Overall:  this has been a trip on my list for a while because the Staircase area is the last part of the park I haven't spent any time in, I like loop hikes and I really think a this loop could be a great one (starting either at Graves Creek or Staircase and going either way).  Alas, I think that dream may need to wait.  

My biggest surprises were:

1. Six Ridge wasn't as bad I think it is made out to be.  The trail condition overall is quite good (esp with the recent work on the Skokomish side - thanks again BeccaW and crew), the bushiness isn't really that bad, and the route finding minimal if that.  it is actually pretty well maintained.  I'm not sure the "primitive" label is appropriate when compared to Graves Creek (which is primitive imo) and Upper Duckabush (which isn't labeled as such but is probably bushier than Six Ridge imo)
2. Upper Duckabush was worse that I was expecting.  Honestly, I didn't read up on it before going so I just went in assuming it wasn't that bad.  While no where near what Graves Creek is, I personally think it was worse than Six Ridge.
3. Graves Creek.  Here again, I didn't do enough reading on this section before going.  In fact while hiking part of it I starting thinking that a year or two ago I read on this and remember saying it was bad / impassable. It that recollection is true - I could see it.  Some of the blowdowns where were cleared late in my hike (w/in 2 miles of the GC TH) could be blockers.  Again thank you to the crew that did that work.  While the rest of the trail isn't impassable - I can't honestly describe it as fun.  I did think to myself that if I had started this loop going counter-clockwise and up Graves Creek first going to Sundown Lake, in the heat, I'm not sure I would've made it and just turned around.  I just don't know if it would've been worth it.

Would I do this trip again?  I don't think so.  But that isn't because it was all bad.  Most sections are quite nice and I highly recommend them - it is really just because of Graves Creek.  I actually would recommend Six Ridge, I just don't know how to exit (assuming you enter on North Fork Skokomish) as I hear the South Fork Skokomish is a bit of a mess and Graves Creek is.  

For loop hikes in OLYM, I would recommend the Grand Loop and the Seven Lakes Basin / High Divide.  I do hope that work can continue up on Graves Creek.  If that is ever done, this wouldn't be a bad loop hike.