Duckabush River Trail #803

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Commonly Backpacked · River/Creek · Views · Wildlife

Duckabush River Trailhead is nice, with lots of parking and a good restroom. The trail starts out with a steady and easy climb to Little Hump on an old road. This is the boundary of The Brothers Wilderness.

It then drops about 200 ft. before leveling off in the first very peaceful section along the river. Just before the climb to Big Hump begins, there is a nice campsite along the river at N 47° 41.057' W 123° 05.029. This is a good place to rest before the 1000 ft. climb up Big Hump. There are a couple of nice viewpoints down the valley on the way up, but no views from the top.

Dropping down about 700 ft., you arrive at Five Mile Camp (N 47° 41.564' W 123° 06.525). There are a few more nice campsites in the next half mile as well, culminating with a spectacular little overlook of a serene pool in the river.

The trail soon enters Olympic National Park, where you must turn back with your dog. In this area, it is pretty brushy, and the segment from the park boundary to Ten Mile Camp has quite a few downed trees, but nothing particularly difficult until you arrive at a washout of the trail at N 47° 40.828' W 123° 11.671'. This washout requires a scramble up and over, through many broken trees and loose soil. Do not attempt to cross the washout directly. It is a long way to the river.

One half mile later is Ten Mile Camp (1400', N 47° 40.579' W 123° 12.088'). There is a privy here, and lots of campsites. The brushy part of the trail ends about 0.5 miles later.

At N 47° 39.996' W 123° 14.775', Crazy Creek dumps into the Duckabush with a splash. There are nice campsites here, and the rock formations sculpted by the river are amazing. Definitely worth the side trip just to see the rocks.

Continuing on, the trail climbs a little hump that gives a false sense of security that you are done climbing. It looks like the pass opening up not too much higher. At this point, N 47° 40.207' W 123° 15.574', there is a clear trail switchbacking down toward the river. No idea where it goes. From here, the trail remains quiet and gentle, and at times totally silent, until arriving at the intersection with the LaCrosse Pass, N 47° 37.997' W 123° 17.844'. Slightly beyond here is a stream crossing with a usable campsite.

The end of this section of trail is at Duckabush Camp, N 47° 39.281' W 123° 19.183'. Just before this is the ford of the Duckabush. When we crossed in mid-September, we kept our feet dry. Earlier in the season, this could be a more challenging ford. Just after Duckabush Camp is the intersection with the O'Neil Pass and North Fork Skokomish River Trail, and the end of the Duckabush River Trail. This is an excellent entry point for the O'Neil Pass/Anderson Pass/LaCrosse loop.

Lots of huge cedars, firs and hemlocks on this trail, and we encountered elk as well.