This was my first backpacking adventure and I absolutely loved it. We took the trail past Enchanted Valley and up to Marmot Lake, up to Lake Lacrosse, hopped over Ranger Pass (extremely difficult), and back down into the valley. If you have some legs underneath you, I highly recommend making it to Marmot Lake and Lake Lacrosse. The views are absolutely spectacular up there.

The hike from Enchanted Valley Chalet to Marmot lake is about 12 miles. We decided that we would hike to the end of the Valley the night before to cut some of the miles down. From our campsite at the mouth of the mountain to Marmot lake was 9 miles. It was a tough hike but very manageable.

Camping on top of Marmot lake was the best part of the trip. Climb up on top of the rock to the right of the trail for some very amazing campsites. Ours looked out over a huge valley with mountains all around us and the lake to our back.

Instead of going out the way we came in, we decided to take a loop up to Lake Lacrosse and over Ranger pass. This cut our trip out by 5 miles but proved to be much more difficult. Lake Lacrosse basin has some of the best views on the hike. We saw a heard of Elk up there and three bears. There are some fun side trails up there that we decided to pass on.

Ranger Pass (found on the REI hiking map app), was a very difficult climb for two beginners. We ended up losing the trail and using GPS to guide us over the mountain. On the backside of the mountain there was a rock slide on a VERY steep slope. It took us 4 hours to get down .2 miles. Coupled with some intense fog, it was a pretty stressful hike back down. The end of this hike took us through a creek bed that intersected with the trail that took us up the mountain. It was tough hiking that day for sure.

Hiking to just Enchanted Valley is an easy hike though. There are three main campgrounds on the way into the valley, Pony Bridge (3miles), O'Neil Creek (8miles), and Pyrites Creek (~9.2miles). We stayed at O'neil creek on the way out and back in. However, if I were to go back I would take the extra mile hike into Pyrites Creek. Pony bridge is cool, but crowded, and is only 3 miles in.

The trees are MASSIVE on this hike. Everything is old growth rain forest that makes the hike truly enchanted.

Overall, the trip was amazing and I will definitely make it back to the Olympics in the future :)