AWe were lucky enough to have permits right after Olympic National Park reopened, July 2-5, and went up the North Forth Skokomish to the Duckabush and LaCrosse Basin plus O'Neill Pass. It was glorious!
July 2 - Staircase - Two Bear camp 11.8mi, 3200ft. One place before Camp Pleasant where a stream had taken out the trail. You have to cross it 3 times to get back to the trail. Gorgeous old-growth in there. Ford at Nine Stream wasn't bad, but a little spicy. Up to Two Bear was a slog with a heavy pack, but beautiful, with lush waterfalls, flowers, etc... We saw bear scat but no bears. The night at Two Bear was pleasant, but no privy. This place gets a bad rap for bugs, but there were no bugs and we had the whole place to ourselves.
July 3 - Two Bear to Marmot Lake 8.7mi, 3100ft (plus 2.4 and 500ft to O'Neill Pass for kicks). Two Bear to First Divide was up up up, through forest and meadow. First Divide was socked in, but we could see Home Sweet Home meadow and stopped there briefly on the way down to the Duckabush for the privy. Down to the Duckabush was almost 2000ft in 2.2mi and rocky. The Upper Duckabush crossing wasn't bad. There's a log that was dry and trusty. The camp there is huge and developed, except the privy has no door and looks rather sketch. To the main Duckabush is about 3mi of up and down - the most tedious part of the trip, except for the waterfalls and flowers. A few stream crossings, minor. Main Duckabush was a little spicy but no problem. Both crossings were knee-deep on me and I am 5'2". Up to Marmot Lake was spectacular old-growth and peek-a-boo views of Mt. Steele and others. We avoided the buggy, swampy camp sites for a camp above the ridge to hiker's left from the lake-head. There is a bear wire there, so we figured it was OK. We had amazing views of Steele, O'Neill Pass and the other mountains. There is a decent box privy near the group camp, hiker's right from the lake-head. I saw a big, fresh bear print in the mud on my way to the loo. We hiked to O'Neill after dinner; some snow, probably hollowed out underneath with water running by now. I'm light and walked over it, but my partner, who is 6'2" and 210lb, walked around it.
July 4 - Morning trip to LaCrosse and Hart Lakes. 8.5mi, 2800ft. These will be great to camp at in a couple weeks, but right now still have snow. The lakes were breathtaking. A ranger spotted us hiking and asked for our permits. Around 1pm we retraced our steps, getting to Home Sweet Home camp around 5pm. Home Sweet Home is a lovely camp in a meadow with avalanche lilies and butter cups and mountains all around. The main camp area is a cluster of sites, but we found a durable surface just to hiker's right of the path to the privy and had it all to ourselves.
July 5 - Out. 14mi, up 900ft, down 4000. We had a ranger ask for our permits near Camp Pleasant as well. This is the first trip in the Olympics where I've been asked for my permit - not once, but twice. We got out and got Mexican food on the dock at Hoodsport. It was delicious.
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