May 7th-10th

    Another absolutely fabulous trip has come and gone.  During these four days in the wilderness, there was hardly a cloud to be seen.  This made it easy to forget that our destination was one of the wettest places in Washington State.  The first day was spent traveling 6 miles into the wilderness.  The path followed an abandoned road and then turned into a trail as we crossed pony bridge. The remainder of our first day involved hiking over, under and around various trees obliterated by winter storms and scattered across the trail.  We were fascinated by a variety of bear tracks and elk sightings.  Just before O’Neil Creek we discovered a potential place to spend the night out of sight of the trail and right next to the river.  Soon our newly discovered patch of forest was transformed into a campsite.  When it came time to hang our food for the night, we witnessed Matt’s amazing tree shimmying abilities. 

    During day two we broke camp and continued the gradual climb up the river valley.  Upon reaching Pyrites Creek we concluded that we’d have to wade through the frigid waters to reach the far side.  We felt a teeth grinding pain in our feet as the snow melted water rushed through our toes and splashed nearly to our knees.  This really made us appreciate the bridges over the other crossings.  Next in our adventure, we saw more elk, several butterflies and some black bears.  Now over 13 miles into the back country, we crossed a newly constructed bridge over the Quinault River and began to see the outlines of a large wooden structure.  This cabin, known as the Chalet, is a widely recognized landmark representing this popular hikingdestination.  To our right was a forested hillside with a roaring creek tumbling down.  To our left a mixture of rocky cliffs, scattered trees and feather like bursts of water mixed seamlessly together to create a montage of waterfalls cascading thousands of feet from snow capped peaks to the valley floor.  And directly in front of us lay a golden meadow touched with scattered moss covered maple trees to remind us that we were visiting a rain-forest.  Together, these unforgettable features composed a region known as “the Enchanted valley”

    We made a group decision to spend the next day hiking as far up the valley as the early season conditions permitted us leaving the 13+ mile hike out for our last day in the wilderness.  Reaching the edge of the meadow, we spotted a large black bear casually grazing in our trail.  After much commotion on our part, he finally sauntered slowly off the trail.  From this point on, I was the designated trail leader (or bear bait) for fear we might encounter another furry creature.  Our day hike ended several miles up the valley in 5 feet of snow with avalanche debris scattered around us and frightening cornices dangling from the peaks above us.  Nevertheless, the view was great and all was well.

    The remainder of the trip continued on just as smoothly.  All in all, the harshest weather we encountered was the occasional cloud sighting.  We enjoyed a total of 10 bear sightings, dozens of elk sightings, four humans and a cougar print.