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This long uphill trail along the Quinault River winds its way through some old forests .


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Map Key

18.0

Miles

28.9

KM

92%

Runnable

3,253' 991 m

High

628' 191 m

Low

3,552' 1,083 m

Up

927' 282 m

Down

5%

Avg Grade (3°)

31%

Max Grade (17°)

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Commonly Backpacked · River/Creek · Views · Waterfall · Wildlife

Description

The East Fork Quinault River Trail ascends up the Quinault River through some very big trees in this old forest. On the way back, we bumped into a forester who showed us a place off trail where we could see old growth trees of three different species, so take the extra time to witness some of these ancient giants.

You can break this route up by camping along the way, about halfway up. While camping along the trail will give you a much more in depth experience, the trail is easily conquered in a single day.

Once you make your way up to the Enchanted Valley, you see why it has earned the name. There are sheer cliffs across the Quinault, with hundreds of waterfalls streaming down it early in the season. You can spend a couple days in the valley exploring, and each day will be well worth your while.

The trail climbs steeply for the last mile or so to its terminus at a junction with O'Neil Pass Trail and West Fork Dosewallips River Trail.

Flora & Fauna

Many bears. We saw two in the valley walking across a snowpack on the opposite side of the river. Also lots of elk are usually present in the area. There are very large Douglas fir, Western hemlock and Western red cedar. At a spot off the trail we saw all three old growth trees together in a small grove

Contacts

Shared By:

Steve Jackson with improvements by Maura Treaccar

Trail Ratings

  4.9 from 10 votes

#422

Overall
  4.9 from 10 votes
5 Star
90%
4 Star
10%
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Trail Rankings

#26

in Washington

#422

Overall
29 Views Last Month
3,188 Since Mar 5, 2015
Intermediate Intermediate

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88%
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Photos

Walking into Enchanted Valley with the Chalet in view.
Jun 27, 2018 near Brinnon, WA
Enchanted Valley with low-lying clouds
Dec 13, 2018 near Brinnon, WA
Waterfalls everywhere!
Dec 17, 2015 near Seabeck, WA
View towards the Olympics.
Dec 17, 2015 near Seabeck, WA
Enchanted Valley waterfalls.
Dec 17, 2015 near Seabeck, WA
This bridge partially collapsed before we started this hike. The rangers said it wasn't safe to cross.
Dec 17, 2015 near Seabeck, WA

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Weather


Current Trail Conditions

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Check-Ins

Oct 1, 2021
Greg Bateman
Trail has been cleaned up quite a bit from a couple of years ago; the blow down's have been removed and a set of stairs descending to Pony Bridge 6mi — 1h 21m
Mar 23, 2021
Greg Bateman
Beautiful day, beautiful trail... 7mi — 12h 00m
Aug 19, 2018
Amy Schmitz
Moderate smoke. Definitely want to come back (again) for longer run to Enchanted Valley. 20mi
Aug 25, 2017
Amy Schmitz
The elevation is totally runnable, and I wanted to run more but didn't have enough time. Looking forward to coming back. 5.9mi — 1h 01m
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