Olympic National Park

i was on a 3-day guided trip that started out along the Quinault River in the southern part of the park. We got pretty high on the 2nd day, had some lovely views.

So yes. There may be even better options, but there's one at least! I have yet to explore the rest of ONP.

PM me if you want me to try to dig up the info on our exact route.

Is there a name of the trail?

Check out BAREFOOT JAKE’S site if you are interested in the Olympics

Jon,

A lot depends on where you are coming from, whether you will have a car and how much driving you want to do. ONP is really big; driving from Seattle to the west side will be 4-6 hours depending on conditions and traffic. There's a good overview map here (click on View Park Map at the lower left corner):

http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/gettingaround.htm

A few options:

1. On the west side, I would maybe look at the loop starting at Hoh Visitors Center, up the Hoh River, into the Seven Lakes Basin and back, maybe adding the part of the Hoh River trail up to edge of the glaciers on Olympus, too. This will probably have a decent amount of people on it.

2. From the north (Port Angeles), maybe start at Deer Park and do a loop to the Hayden Pass area. Gossamer Gear did a trip there (led by Barefoot Jake, above): http://gossamergear.com/wp/trail-ambassadors-3/trail-ambassador-group-hike-in-olympic-national-park

3. I spend most of my time in the southeast corner of the park because I can get to Staircase, Dosewallips or Duckabush in about 3 hours from Portland. A loop I really like along the Dosewallips. Follow 101 to Brinnon and Forest Road 2610. There's a washout, so you have to walk in on an overgrown road (getting more like a trail now) to Dosewallips Campground (a great first night stop if you get a late start). Follow trails up to Honeymoon Meadow (trail junction towards La Crosse Pass), over La Crosse Pass, up to Hart Lake (on the map above, you can see Marmot Lake), over O'Neill Pass. You could head down into the Enchanted Valley for the night to see the Chalet that's about to fall into the river (I think they are trying to save it) and then back up to Anderson Pass. There's a use trail there up to Anderson Glacier. Then back to Honeymoon Meadows and back out. PM me if you want more info. Maybe I'll invite myself along! Edit: the Enchanted Valley would be the trail that Katherine is talking about which follows the Quinault River

A few notes:

It is a NP, so most (not all) camping is at established campsites areas. The Park didn't require bear canisters and most sites have bear wires, but check with park rangers. Permits are easy, just get at a ranger station or TH, but there are a few areas with special permit considerations.

Hope that helps!

These are great ideas to start with! Thank you!

So I purchased the NatGeo map and Robert Woods 'Olympic Mountain Trailguide' and have been pouring over both resources. I have narrowed down the trip to beginning on the west side. We will only have 1 car so the trip must return to its starting point.

I have come up with two potential trips and was hoping for feedback.

Option 1: The first is a 100 mile "loop" starting at Graves Creek on the Quinault and taking that all the way through the enchanted valley up to Dose Forks the heading north on the Pacifc Northwest Trail to Hayes River then dropping down on the Elwa towards the North Fork of the Quinault. From there we would hop on the Skyline Trail and end at the North Fork camp ground resulting in having to do some road walking to get back to our car at Graves Creek. If we did this loop we would aim for 6-8 days at 12-15 miles per day.

Option 2: start at north fork campground and take the trail the whole way towards Hayes River campground, do some exploring, then walk back the way we came and do the skyline trail. Option 2 will include far less trail miles per day and in exchange allow for more exploring and fishing during the days.

I actually like option 1, im just not too excited about road walking for about 10 miles to get back to the car. I also really like option 2 but feel like I'm missing something not seeing the Enchanted Valley. This will be my first time in Washington and it may be a while until I get back – I want to get as much in as possible but still have a good time and not have to fight the clock the entire trip. Any feedback on this? Thanks!

Be prepared for some hard days on the skyline trail, depending on which section you're doing. There are bits that *should* be mostly level, but instead tack on a couple thousand extra feet of gain and loss to your day. This is what happens when a trail isn't maintained for a long time and the routes around fallen trees become the permanent route.

That said, it's beautiful! There's one section where I think if I do it again I'll try to just bushwack along the ridge instead of using the trail. I believe it was the section heading roughly east/west from Kimta Peak. The rest of the trail was great, that section was pretty terrible. I don't know if the ridge goes or not, but it'd be fun to try.

Lake Beauty is a gorgeous campsite on the Skyline. Fantastic views. You'll need to carry a bear can if you use this site, but it's worth it. The park will loan you a bearikade (or they would a couple years ago).

We did a one-way hike from Whiskey Bend to the North Fork trailhead. It was surprisingly easy to hitchhike on the dirt roads, and then there's a very cheap bus system to get around the peninsula on the paved roads. YMMV.

Nick, thanks for the details. We are both planning on carrying bear cans the whole trip – I figure it's easier than figuring out the logistics of where we should can without one.

So is the skyline definitely worth a visit? Perhaps I should plan more along the north Quinault and spending more time on the skyline than trying to do the full 100 mile loop described above. Will I be missing something worth doing by not doing the enchanted valley trail??

It's tough deciding!!

That trip is the only backpacking I've done in the Olympics, so I couldn't tell you about the enchanted valley trail. But the Skyline was definitely a highlight. A tough, frustrating-at-times highlight*, but a good time nonetheless. I recall thinking it was worth it at the time, and I was not a lightweight backpacker then. So it would definitely be easier if I went back and did it now, with a lightweight kit.

If you do it and end up taking my advice to follow the ridge instead of the trail, let me know how it goes! I'm not sure it would be any faster but I think it would be less strenuous and more fun.

*Hiking bad trails is extra frustrating when you've been working in the trail crew world…ugh. A little routine maintenance in preceding years/decades would've gone a long way.

Can anyone else provide feedback on the two options we are considering? Is the enchanted valley definitely not worth missing? Or is a combo around north fork of the Quinault and skyline trail a good experience??

Thanks!

Any other input from the fine folks on BPL?