ENCHANTED VALLEY TRAIL Length 18.9 mi/30.4 km Access South Shore Road; West Fork Dosewallips Trail USGS Maps Mount Hoquiam; Mount Olson; Chimney Peak; Mount Steel Agency Olympic National Park This major route, one of the most popular trails in the Olympics, apparently attracts every serious hiker at one time or another. People hear about it from other hikers, or they read something somewhere, so they have to go see for themselves. Few come back disappointed. The trail begins where the South Shore Road ends at Graves Creek (600 ft/ 183 m). The road formerly extended 2.4mi/3.9 km farther up the valley, but the section beyond Graves Creek is now part of the trail. The route ends at Anderson Pass, on the southern flanks of Mount Anderson. Beyond the old bridge over Graves Creek-now used only by foot traffic- the trail climbs to a junction with the Graves Creek Trail (0.1 mi/0.2 km). As it follows the old roadbed, the route goes through a magnificent forest of giant firs and cedars. Many trees are 6 to 8 feet in diameter and more than 250 feet tall. The undergrowth consists largely of huckleberry, vine maple, and devil's club. On the forest floor, queencup beadlilies and bunchberry dogwood add festive touches of color, scattered as they are among the sword and deer ferns. A picnic table (2.4 mi/3.9 km; 1178 ft/359 m) marks the end of the abandoned road and the point where the forest changes to western hemlock and silver fir. The path descends steeply to the East Fork Quinault, and one can hear the rivet in the distance. At the Pony Bridge (3.0 mi/4.8 km; 903-ft/275 m) the river plunges through) narrow gorge walled by layers of slate and sandstone inclined almost vertically, the rock sheathed with maidenhair ferns. A camp is located just beyond the bridge- the first of more than half a dozen riverside camps found along the trail in the next 2 miles. The trail parallels the East Fork and is characterized by numerous ups and downs as it traverses moraine, terraces, and deposits of river gravel, descending to the stream's banks at the various camps. The forest now includes Sitka spruce, with a few big firs scattered among the alders and maples on the bottomlands. The broad-leaved trees are festooned with mosses, lichens, and liverworts. As it follows the meandering river, the trail winds through shadowy forest aisles. The valley is pleasant, cooled by gentle breezes that come down from the snowfields at the river's head. Most of the time the Quinault rushes by noisily, but where it is deep and quiet the sound is soothing and peaceful. Except for the show of white water when rapids break it, the river is pale green, especially in the morning; but it becomes turbulent on warm afternoons when the snow melts rapidly. O'Neil Creek Camp (7.0 mi/11.3 km; 1179 ft/359 m), reached by a spur path, lies between the trail and river, opposite the point where O'Neil Creek flows into the East Fork. At this camp one can ford the Quinault to reach the abandoned Mount Olson Trail on the opposite side. Beyond O'Neil Creek, the trail crosses numerous streams, several of them bordered by alluvial fans. A good campsite is located at Noname Creek (8.5 mil 13.7 km) and another at Pyrites Creek (10.0 mi/16.1 km; 1450 ft/442 m), where the old Pyrites Creek Trail begins. The party Lieutenant Joseph O'Neil sent to Mount Olympus in 1890 named this site Camp Odamit. As it meanders up the valley, the trail crosses a number of small tributaries, but only one, Lamata Creek, has been named. The path enters Enchanted Valley at the point where the river is spanned by a suspension footbridge (12.6 mi/20.3 km; 1920 ft/585 m). The structure was built in 1976 because floods had repeatedly destroyed the low bridges here. Fred W. Cleator, a Forest Service employee, named Enchanted Valley in the late 1920s, when it was part of the Mount Olympus National Monument. As the name implies, the valley is a lovely place, its charm enhanced by its isolation from highways and vehicular traffic. Perhaps it could best be described as somewhat resembling a miniature Yosemite. A glacier, which filled the valley during the Ice Age, deposited a moraine at the lower end. When the glacier retreated, the moraine dammed the river, thus creating a lake. However, both the glacier and the lake have been gone for thousands of years. On the valley floor the Quinault splits into a multitude of braided channels. The flats along the river, covered with lush grasses and alder groves, are bordered on the northwest by a cliff, 4000ft/1219 m high, and the sidewall of the Burke Range, which isolates the valley from the streams that flow to the Elwha River. The ridge from O'Neil Pass to Anderson Pass forms the less abrupt southeastern side, which is heavily forested. The valley floor is more or less open and free of evergreen forest-possibly due to heavy accumulation of snow during the winter. When the snowdrifts on the Burke Range melt in early summer, hundreds of cascades plunge down the cliffs. They are responsible for another name, Valley of a Thousand Waterfalls. By late summer, when the snow is gone, most of them have disappeared, but a number remain. During the winter and spring, avalanches sweep down these cliffs, and the snow piles up, creating snow cones at the bottom. Accordingly, tiny ice fields cling to the mountainside near its base. Enchanted Valley Chalet (13.3 mi/21.4 km; 2000 ft/610 m), a two-story log structure built in 1930, now serves as a ranger station only and is not available for visitor use except during an emergency. (The National Park Service does not consider poor weather to be an emergency.) The chalet stands near the western end of a flat, grassy meadow. The view from here includes the Linsley Glacier on Mount Anderson, as well as the valley's northwestern wall, with its waterfalls and pockets of ice. Fingers and islands of Alaska cedar break up the continuity of the barren cliffs, which are composed of slate and sandstone mixed with greenstone (a metamorphosed basalt). At the head of Enchanted Valley, about 2 miles beyond the Chalet, the trail begins its ascent to Anderson Pass. The largest known western hemlock stands near the trail, its status proclaimed by a sign. The tree is almost 9 feet in diameter, and other hemlocks in the vicinity are nearly as large. The river, now constricted between steep, timbered slopes, cascades noisily over boulders and rocks. At this point Anderson Creek tumbles down from Linsley Glacier on Mount Anderson, adding its volume to the river. As it climbs out of the valley, the trail makes an ascending traverse high above the roaring Quinault, going through stands of silver fir. The trail crosses White Creek just below a waterfall. This brawling stream flows down the north slope of White Mountain. Beyond the junction with the O'Neil Pass Trail (16.9 mi/ 27.2 km; 3200 ft/975 m), the trail switchbacks as it climb steadily toward Anderson Pass. On warm days torrents of water plunge down the slopes of Mount Anderson, and on rare occasions the stillness may be broken by the crash of ice falling from Linsley Glacier. When the weather is hot, one should make the climb to the pass during the morning because the afternoon sun bears down upon this mountainside. The view from Anderson Pass (18.9 mi/30.4 km; 4464 ft/1361 m) looks east across the valley of the West Fork of the Dosewallips, west down the Quinault. At the pass the route becomes the West Fork Dosewallips Trail, and the Anderson Glacier Trail ascends the lower slopes of Mount Anderson.