Enchanted Valley Hike

Our weekend started off at 5:30 a.m. for a trip headed west to Quinault where we would hike 27 miles roundtrip to Enchanted Valley on our 3-day weekend. By 11:20, we made it to the trailhead and started our hike.Christopher kept telling me this would be a flat hike along the river, so I thought 13.5 miles in one day would be very doable. He didn't mention to tell me that the uphill parts and the downhill parts equal flat to him. That dirty rotten sneak! I looked at him and kept saying this is not Flat!

I will agree that the Quinault Forest is beautifully covered in rich green moss, ferns, huge cedars and firs. We took a handful of photos that I have posted on my Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/39360284@N06/sets/72157624772380977/

We hiked 10 miles on the first day to Pyrite Creek and set up camp on the beach. I had bought Christopher this mini frying pan and he cooked up eggs and bacon on english muffins for breakfast. (photo on flickr) We decided to daytrip it 3.5 miles to Enchanted Valley and thankfully I didn't have to carry my pack for that portion. (the heavens part in chorus of Hallelujah!)

On our way, we encountered a family of grouse that looked like a good dinner if we were out in survival school! We also saw an injured bird on the trail with a broken wing that must have fallen out of a tree. Once we got to Enchanted Valley, we met up with the Ranger at the Ranger Station, chatted him up for a bit then headed to a grassy area for lunch (turkey wraps) and a nap. Yawn!

By 3:30pm, we were back at Pyrite Creek and decided to hike 3 miles to O'neil Creek which would get us out closer on the third day. Well, by the time we got to O'neil I pushed Christopher to go farther even though dark was approaching. We arrived at a reasonable camp site on the beach 3.3 miles further, hurriedly set up camp, made a dinner of ravioli in tomato/roasted red pepper soup, scarfed it down and called it a night.

We were fortunate not to get rained on until Monday morning. I was very happy to break in my new hat that I recently bought -the seattle sombrero! It is an awesome rainproof hat.

We are now home, showered, clothes washed, tent hanging up and drying, and relaxed for the evening!

Hope you had a good labor day weekend!
sandy