I spent one lovely, peaceful night along the Duckabush River! This was my first ever backpacking trip, I was solo, carrying all of my gear, and I was so humbled by the weight of my pack so my plans for spending the night at 5-Mile Camp quickly downgraded to 2-Mile Camp haha. I arrived at the trailhead at 11:45am on a Monday morning and saw six other cars. I was nervous about most of the spots at 2-Mile being taken up because of the amount of people at the trailhead, but I only passed one couple on my way in, and I found every campsite to be available! I chose the one that is kind of separated from the true 2-Mile Camp, the first site that is off the trail a bit to the left. You go downhill a little and are met with a small but spacious, beautiful, multi-level campsite. You're decently off the trail, and the spot is pretty private. You can kind of peer in from the trail, but you're mostly pretty cozy and hidden. I set up my tent on the higher dirt level, and then you have a little staircase of roots down to your private riverside beach area. What a lovely spot! Somebody took some serious time and effort to build a little shelter/hut out of logs and sticks and branches, it was a very nice touch! I was seriously impressed and grateful to this person, this little hut served as my kitchen/reading area. After setting up camp and relaxing for a few hours, I took a little golden hour hike up to the lunch rock. I saw nobody else camping nearby as the sun was setting, lucky me! As I ate dinner, the grouse started to drum (if you know, you know - even though I knew it was just grouse, the sound reverberates throughout the forest so deep, it still freaked me out!). I went to bed around 8pm and had the worst sleep I have ever had (to no fault of the location, the river was very relaxing to fall asleep to), but it was so worth it to wake up early in the morning to the beauty of Duckabush as my personal backyard for the day. The bugs were not a concern at all which was very nice. Just a couple around at night, and a few in the morning, but nothing miserable or annoying. I took yet another hike up to the lunch rock before packing up. This is when I saw only the second person of the whole trip! Reluctant to leave my little slice of heaven, I ended up finally hiking out around 11:45am. About 1/2 mile from camp, I saw a bear! I have never seen any wildlife along this trail before. Before I saw him, I heard him crashing through the brush about 50 feet to the left off the trail. I thought at first that maybe it was an off-trail hiker coming through, but then I saw a big tan moving object. All I could see at first was tan, I thought it was a cougar and my life was coming to an unfortunate close. But as he continued emerging, I saw it was just a nice black bear fellow. I don't think he even looked at me, but if he did he couldn't care less and continued his journey uphill and deep into the forest, away from me thankfully. Definitely an exciting way to end the trip!

I believe the Duckabush is currently closed (at least from the park boundary westward), but on Monday, the Bear Gulch fire was mostly subdued. Our group of four, plus the dog, had sunny, mild, smoke-free weather for our outing. We made it to about Five Mile Camp, took a dip in the river, then came back to the car. According to my watch, it was about a 12.5-mile day with six-and-a-half hours of moving time (plus our break by the river).

We definitely got our money's worth, even though the Duckabush does not boast the most aggressive elevation profile compared to other Hood Canal hikes. I only wish the rainy season would begin, so some of these trails could be saved by the looming fire.

Last note: we saw someone's backpacking pack propped against a tree on the switchbacks below Little Hump. We did not see or hear the hiker, and another group we passed said the same. There was no social trail or climber's path that I could see, so it seemed like a weird place to ditch a pack. Hopefully the owner was just planning to double back for it after they took a pack-free jaunt someplace else!

The road has some potholes, the trail has a few trees to negotiate. Hazy and Smokey on Friday and misty on Saturday and Sunday. We camped at the Fivemile Camp and day hiked up towards the Tenmile camp on Saturday. We saw no other campers and only a few day hikers. The campsites along the river are spacious and have been well kept by previous hikers (unlike many of the more popular backpack sites). It was a beautiful, low key, relaxing backpack.

Three of us did a 5-night, 57-mile hike to LaCrosse Basin with a tangent to Anderson Moraine.  We hiked up the old Dosewallips Rd, up the main fork Dosewallips Trail, up the West Fork Dosewallips Trail to Anderson Pass, up the Anderson Glacier spur trail to Anderson Moraine and Anderson Lake, down the E. Fork Quinault Trail to the junction with O'Neil Pass Trail, over O'Neil Pass to Marmot Lake, up the LaCrosse Basin Trail to Hart Lake, and out the Duckabush Trail.  

Trail conditions:

Dosewallips Trailhead to Anderson Pass:  Excellent.  Not a single log on the trail the whole way, and recently brushed out.  We owed our thanks to the ONP trail crew whom we met heading out as we were heading in.  They'd been working on restoration of the Siberia Camp shelter, a project still underway.

Anderson Glacier Trail:  Excellent.  One minor log on the trail, and recently brushed out.  The .7-mile trail from Anderson Pass is steep, but is well-graded for the most part.

E. Fork Quinault Trail from Anderson Pass to O'Neil Pass Trail:  Not bad.  Brushy in places, a couple of logs, and a couple of sketchy spots where the trail dips into stream gullies and the tread should be re-benched.

O'Neil Pass Trail: Okay.  About a dozen logs on the trail and a fair amount of brush.  There are several spots in the upper reaches where the tread is failing on steep scree slopes.

LaCrosse Basin Trail:  This is a steep, rough trail for the first half-mile till it tops out in the basin.  There was one log a couple hundred feet above Marmot Lake that was somewhat irksome to get past.  Once the trail tops out, the trails to Hart Lake and LaCrosse Lake were in fine shape.

Duckabush Trail to Upper Duckabush Camp:  There were only 5 logs in the 4-mile stretch between Marmot Lake and Upper Duckabush Camp.  But there was thick brush on much of the trail.

Duckabush Trail from Upper Duckabush Camp to ONP boundary:  This 10.5-mile stretch was in the worst condition of the whole route.  I counted 95 logs on the trail, about a dozen of which required some gymnastics to get past. There were many places where the brush was so thick you couldn't see the trail.  In the upper reaches, the brush was mostly salmonberry, but lower, around 10 Mile Camp, the trail was crowded by vine maple and Doug fir saplings.  There are several places where the trail seems to be at risk of disappearing completely.  About 3 miles west of 10 Mile Camp, near where Crazy Creek joins the Duckabush, a 30-ft section of trail has collapsed into the river gorge.  It's possible to work around this spot, but it's a bit sketchy and a remedy will require a few days' work by a trail crew.

About 2 miles west of 10 Mile Camp a pair of root balls blocks the trail, and a hard scramble above them is required.  Clearing this obstacle will be a big project.

Duckabush Trail from ONP boundary to trailhead:  This stretch was in good shape.  A bit of brush and a few logs, but pretty clear sailing past 5 Mile Camp.  There was one log on Big Hump and another just east of Little Hump, both easy step-overs.

Stream crossings:  As would be expected for this time of year, crossing streams wasn't a big challenge.  The two Duckabush crossings near Upper Duckabush Camp were rock-hops, as were all the other creeks.

Our trip: We left a car at Duckabush trailhead on Tuesday morning and drove to the Dosewallips trailhead.  Hiked 10.5 miles to Big Timber Camp, a roomy place with an intact bear wire and privy.  We saw no other hikers beyond Dose Campground, except for the ONP trail crew on their way out.  The skies were clear, and we saw no haze from the Bear Gulch fire.  There were plenty of ripe berries along the way.

On Wednesday we hiked 7 miles to Anderson Moraine.  Stopped at Siberia Camp for lunch and were impressed with the amount of work going into restoring the shelter.  The structural timbers are all in place, and a new shake roof has been started.  A member of the trail crew told us it should be done in a few more weeks.  Siberia Camp has a bear wire and privy, but no water source, as the creek near the shelter was dry.

When we reached Anderson Pass, we considered camping there, as there are several campsites scattered around the pass, and a shallow frog pond that would suffice for water.  But we decided to make the .7-mile, 500-ft climb to the lovely tarn below the Anderson Moraine, which is a far more scenic spot.  A bear can is essential here.  After making camp, we climbed to the top of the moraine for a good view of Anderson Lake and Mt Anderson, and then descended to Anderson Lake for a dip.  There was some smoke haze, but we still had good views of the spectacular terrain.  

On Thursday we descended to Anderson Pass, then dropped down the E. Fork Quinault Trail to the junction with O'Neil Pass Trail.  Smoke haze filled the E. Fork Quinault Valley.  We then made the long, fairly gradual, climb to O'Neil Pass.  The trail passes through a number of meadows, which we scanned for bears, but had no luck.  The east side of the pass had grand but hazy views of Mt Duckabush, Mt Steel, Mt LaCrosse, and the Duckabush Valley.

We passed Marmot Lake, where we saw nobody camped, and made the steep climb into LaCrosse Basin and Hart Lake, which we had to ourselves.  It's a lovely spot.  The campsite there has no privy or bear wire, so it's essential to have a bear can.

On Friday we took a leisurely ramble around LaCrosse Basin and took a dip in LaCrosse Lake.  We saw a bear near LaCrosse Lake, and another one by Hart Lake when we returned to camp.  As the afternoon grew late, more and more smoke haze filled the air, obscuring the views around us.  We'd planned on spending a second night at Hart Lake, but decided there was no point in sitting around breathing smoke, so we packed up and dropped 4.6 miles to Upper Duckabush Camp.  It's an uncommonly roomy camp under big trees, with a privy and bear wire.  We saw no other hikers.

On Saturday we hiked down the Duckabush about 11 miles to a nice site by the river about a half-mile before the ONP boundary.  There was a good swimming hole in the river.  We saw no other hikers the whole day.

On Sunday we hiked out the last 7 miles.  After Big Hump, we encountered two other parties of backpackers heading in, and a few day hikers.

I did a 5 night, 6 day trip up the Duckabush River to Marmot Lake and LaCrosse Basin, over O'Neil and Anderson passes, and over LaCrosse Pass back to the Duckabush. This trip has been on my list for several years and did not disappoint. Lots of incredible scenery and solitude. I didn't see anyone else between the afternoon of day 2 and 6.

Day 1: Duckabush TH to 10 mile camp. My GPS indicated 10 Mile Camp is 12 miles from the trailhead. Thanks to the WTA the trail was in excellent condition to the park boundary with only three down trees that were easy to pass. Slightly past the park boundary to about a mile past 10 mile camp much of the trail was very heavily overgrown with brush and small trees. I lost count of the number of down trees between the park boundary and Upper Duckabush camp. Most were easy to pass but there were 6-8 that were a royal pain.         

Day 2: 10 mile camp to Marmot Lake.  The ford just before Upper Duckabush was easy. The river is very shallow. Water was so low at the second ford just past Upper Duckabush that I was able to cross on stones. Much of the trail up to Marmot Lake was overgrown and there were 6-8 down trees with only 1 or 2 presenting challenges.

Day 3: I spent the day exploring the Hart Lake, LaCrosse Lake, and LaCrosse Basin. There was one large black bear at a tarn above Lake LaCrosse that ran as soon as he spotted me. Smoke from the Bear Gulch fire became noticeable slightly after noon and became thick by 3:00 with ash falling from the sky. I'm glad I had packed a N95 mask which I needed until late night. That evening there were elk bugling in the meadows below Marmot Lake. 

Day 4: Marmot Lake to Camp Siberia. It was a toss-up between this trail and the LaCrosse Pass trail for most scenic. The trail was in fairly good condition. Just past O'Neil pass there was a bear cooling off in a snowfield in the meadow below. Smoke was not too bad on the trail but the Duckabush and Quinault valleys were socked in. The trail from the junction of the O'Neil and Anderson Pass trails was overgrown in places. Smoke was noticeable but not too bad. I came across another large bear between Anderson Pass and Camp Siberia. He wasn't perturbed by my presence and continued browsing as I went by. The shelter at Camp Siberia is in the process of being rebuilt. The small stream at Camp Siberia is almost dry with just a trickle. There a two small streams down the trail but the closest dependable source is at the LaCrosse Pass trail junction.

Day 5: Camp Siberia to 10 Mile Camp. Trail in good condition but a number of down trees. There seemed to be more on the south side of the pass and they felt more difficult to cross. Little to no smoke. The best scenery was on the north side of the pass trail.

Day 6: 10 Mile Camp to trailhead. Uneventful but periods of noticeable smoke.