This is a 13.3 mile trail to Enchanted Valley. The first day I hiked 6.6 mi to McNeil Campground. This is a nice campground with plenty of privacy at each site. The trail was snow free all the way and is a relatively easy hike. Lots of animals. I saw bear, elk, deer, field mouse and birds unidentified. There are numerous creeks to cross and Pyrites Creek has no bridge. Water to your knees to ford, but an easy ford. Enchanted Valley campground is a beautiful place. Recommend this hike. Travel time from West Seattle about 3 1/2 hours around Olympia, etc.

Hi, Enchanted Valley was nice overall on memorial day weekend. It rained lightly on and off Friday through Monday, and most of Sunday, and include some mandatory drizzle. But there were also sun breaks and some mild weather. Not cold at all. The ranger we spoke with said there was a total of 98 people in the valley for the weekend, which was apparently down from last year. Many people hiked out on Sunday and all who did missed the Sun and lack of crowds on Monday. I recommend looking on the web for a satellite weather image loop to try and determine what the weather will be like if you do this hike. It seems to change often in this valley as clouds blow in off the Pacific. Snow and glaciers were barely visible through the overcast, so it was a treat to see them on occasion. We encountered 3 black bears off the trail on the way up, but didn't encounter any problems with them in our campsite. Hanging our food helped. Usual bear procedures. Plenty of dear and elk to go around. I was camping close to the river and noticed big green 1 to 1.5in. stoneflys(') crawling on my tent at times. Made the fisherman in me wake up. There was also a small spinner(') hatch near our campsite that wasn't too out of control. The biting bugs were almost none. I wasn't bit once and had no repellant on. The road to the trail head (11mi from 101) seems to have had some recent repairs and wasn't a bad drive at all, even with the rain. The trail was relatively dry on the way in with no blow-downs, but was wet and sloppy on top most of the way out on Monday. The fact that there isn't much elevation to this 13 mile hike made the mud easier to forget. Not bad at all. Glad I went. Bye, Paul

Almost every year we go to Lk. Quinault lodge and take a long day trip usually the Elip' loop. This year we went up toward the Enchanted Valley. Weather was excellent and we only saw a couple other people. Trail is in good shape with only the bridge over Pyrites Creek out but an easy step over. Went as far as a camp about 20mi. RT. There looked to be a little new snow near Anderson Pass. We saw severl herds of elk including a huge bull with 11 cows. After that I had to have steak for dinner. We also hiked on Sunday a loop on the new nature trail between Rain Forest Lodge and Lk Quinault lodge as it is open now. It has a few windfalls but nothing severe yet. Wonderful trip but timing is everything as it started pouring on Sunday.