| Apr '07 | | East Fork Quinault | Apr '06 | | |
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|  | | Location: | Olympic National Park | Start Date: | April 13, 2007 | End Date: | April 14, 2007 | Major Drainage: | Quinault River | Minor Drainage: | East Fork Quinault River | Est. Total Distance: | 27 miles | Est. Elevation Gain: | 1300 feet | Viewed: | 471 times |
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| | Backpacking to the Enchanted Valley |
| | | Friday was steady rain all day long. Not a heavy downpour, but just enough to get everything wet. I didn't take my camera out much. We saw one bear a little ways past O'Neil Creek, but it was gone in a flash. We were planning on stopping at Pyrites Creek, but there was a group of four there already, so we pressed on another mile.
On Saturday, my dad woke me up at about 6 a.m. (!!) The rain had subsided, but his sleeping bag was pretty wet and he wasn't feeling very warm, so we skipped breakfast and hit the trail immediately to warm up. We got to the Chalet (13.5 miles) a little bit before 8, and we obviously weren't going to get any views. The thermometer on the porch of the Chalet read 38 degrees. Across the valley clinging to the cliffs was a white dot that just didn't look like snow... A goat? Those goats are crazy... I didn't know they came down that low in the valley. The photo of the goat is cropped heavily.
| | | | | | We took the mandatory pics, looked around, and headed back to camp. Ate as much as we could and packed up. By then a hot shower sounded really good, and it was pretty obvious we were both ready to go. I took advantage of the break in weather and took some long exposures. We donned our packs (they seemed a lot heavier!) and started rolling down the trail. We ran into a group of six elk that were bedded down. Another mile down the trail there's a wide-open grove of maples. We'd just reached this, when I saw something black and furry. We saw it before it saw us, and it was ambling towards us. Then we saw three hikers down below who'd obviously spooked it in our direction. It was close, but not a threatening encounter. I snapped off a couple dozen shots as it wandered by and had a couple turn out.
| | | | | | The rest of the way was a long tired haul. We were wet & tired, but it was definitely worth it. Two bears, one goat, two grouse, a dozen elk, and 15 people seen in 27 miles roundtrip.
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