Finally got to do the Enchanted Valley journey ... 2 nights ... Hike to O'Neil creek on day 1, then onto Enchanted Valley + a light hike towards Anderson lake and day 3 hiked back to the trailhead.
The short of it is that the forest is just gorgeous. Most of it looks as it was never exploited for timber. It has great smells. Widllife turned out to be a large herd of elk in Enchanted valley, a grouse and its offspring, chipmunks. No bear sightings.
Day 1 - clear, easy trail path to O'neil. A few very nice spots to take a break or enjoy a view of the Quinault river level. Campsites were mostly taken when we arrived at O'neil. We stayed close to the bear wire. The sound of the river provided a nice cover
Day 2 - the hike to Enchanted Valley was great, easy to follow, not much traffic. Campsites were plentiful and after a little bit of exploring we found ourselves with a nice spot overlooking the river. It is certainly popular yet does not feel like it. The evening was pleasant with nice views of the quinault river in the sunset. We did go for a little extra 5 miles round trip heading out to Anderson lake but did not have much open views to the glacier and elected to turn back before it got too steep.
Day 3: as with any "out and back" the hike back felt fairly long even though we shaved about 45 mn overall.
Overall a great outing
PS: for those of you with tracking devices... Day 1 came out at 7.9 miles, Day 2 showed 7.6 miles (w/o the extra hike) and day 3 came out at 15.5 miles.
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