Last week a couple of friends and I hiked up the Quinault River Trail to the
Enchanted Valley Chalet. This included 5.5 miles of walking along the South
Shore Road, which is closed because of washouts. Along the way, at Pyrites
Creek, we went off trail towards Muncaster basin ending at about 4400 feet
in elevation, but got off route and rather than back part way down and try
again gave it up and headed back to the Quinault River Trail before continuing
to the chalet. This was primarily a backpacking trip, not a birding trip.

Birds seen along the road and trail:
Common Merganser
Osprey
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
American Robin
Dark-eyed Junco

While off trail:
Northern Flicker
Hermit Thrush
Varied Thrush

At the Enchanted Valley Chalet:
Vaux's Swift
American Dipper
American Pipet.

At the Enchanted Valley Chalet there was a black bear that visited both days
we were there and the most magnificent bull elk I have seen in 40+ years of
back-country hiking.

Jeff Jendro
Longview, WA
_Jeffjendro at aol.com_ (mailto:Jeffjendro at aol.com)




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