Main Fork Dosewallips River, West Fork Dosewallips River — Thursday, Jul. 24, 2025

Did a 4 day 3 night trip starting at the Dosewallips trailhead. The parking was very full on a Thursday morning and we, like other cars, lined up and parked on the side of the road. There was a group of 5 of us backpackers. We headed in on the main fork to Dose Forks our first night, a little under 10 miles. Along the way, about 5 miles in you come to Dosewallips campsite which is just gorgeous with plenty of spots that are flat, with shade and a nice breeze. The looks almost brand new. The campsites there were plentiful. There are more sites back on the path past the privy, so if it gets crowded just keep going back there. Privy was in good shape. They aren’t as nice, but will do. Water access was steep and not my favorite to get to, but it worked. The trail is very well maintained. The next day we headed up to Bear Camp, about 10 miles. Around 2 miles out from Bear camp you hit gorgeous meadows that were a bit overgrown but we were able to find the trail. Sun exposure here, since there’s decent tree cover on the trail up until then. There are certainly patches and stretches with exposure, but when you get to these Meadows just to be aware. It was in the high 80s and sunny, and I was glad I had my sun hoodie on. We made it up to Bear camp and let me just say that there are very limited tent sites there. I would say that in reality you could comfortably fit three tents, and I only really saw two spots that were mostly flat. The five of us took up all available space, and I was thankful no one else needed a spot for that night. A couple of our tents were slanted on angles, so it wasn’t the most comfortable, but it worked. Water access was very easy. There is a shelter there, and I would say two of the four beds in it are usable. One of the upper bunks was covered in mouse feces and dead mouse carcasses, the other one was half broken. The two bunks on the bottom are usable, but we prefer our tents. A group member did a hike to Dose Meadows and said that there were plenty of campsites there.  Our third day we headed back down the main Fork, back to Dose Forks camp (on the West Fork Trail) and hiked to big timber campsite, for about 11 1/2 miles. It was about 10 miles of downhill which was fine, but after Dose Forks the climb up to big timber wasn’t how I would’ve chosen to end the day. Lots of steep uphill. But sites at big timber were plentiful, and water access was easy. They do have operating bear wire there, but all of us had bear cans because that’s what the other two sites required. Our fourth and final day we hiked around 11 miles back to the car, and took a break at Dosewallips Camp for lunch, which was gorgeous. Lots of ripe berries along the trail, as well as beautiful wild flowers. I’m going to be back at the end of August to hike somewhat in the area (Deer park, moose lake, Dose meadows, falls camp, back to dear park) and was really glad to have done the section between bear camp and the start of Grey Wolf pass on the main Fork trail.