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East Fork Quinault River to Enchanted Valley; May 13-14

Posted by drm (2007-05-15)

I had a meeting of the Green Party of Washington in Olympia last Saturday, and decided that since I was so close, I would head up and get my first taste of Olympic National Park. I had coll cloudy weather the first day, in the 50's. And sunny warm weather for the hike out.

First thing was to get to a trailhead camp at Graves Creek Saturday night.

The trailhead is just across Graves Creek.

and at first the trail is quite broad

After 2.5 miles, you get to Pony Bridge and cross the east fork where it is in a gorge

There were lots of elk along the trail

and

and one of these guys as well:

There were nice sections of trail:

as well as some blockages:

There were easy log bridge crossings (Noname Creek here):

As well as some dicey ones (Pyrites Creek):

most of the way staying close to the east fork

It was 13.5 miles to the Enchanted Valley, and I wondered if the name was worth it, or if it would be like lower down valley. I was not to be disappointed. Here is the opening view.

then you cross the river:

And here is a 3-photo stitch of the canyon wall with the "chalet"

and a room with a view:

and again, some company

and a parting shot with the sun as I left the next morning:

All in all, a nice first visit to ONP. Looking forward to more.

Re: East Fork Quinault River to Enchanted Valley; May 13-14

Posted by fettster (2007-05-15)

What a great first trip! I still need to make one myself. Pretty cool seeing the bears, what did it look like they were up to?

Re: East Fork Quinault River to Enchanted Valley; May 13-14

Posted by pdxgene (2007-05-15)

How close are you to those bears when taking the pictures? Did they have any reaction to you at all (or you to them) ? That first one looks kind of hungry....

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