It was raining when I woke up and retrieved my food from the bear cables. I found no evidence of bears visiting the site, but a chipmonk or squirrel had rappelled down the line and eaten a hole through the mesh bag and two ziplocks directly into my nut-ladden trail mix. Thankfully, that was all it touched.

I wandered about the river edge near camp, photographing the trees and rocks and watching a duck surf the rapids then peel into an eddy. I might have been disappointed with the rain, but in this rain forest I was more than happy to start hiking and experience the abundant weather.

Nick and Mindy were still sleeping when I headed further up the valley. After passing by the next few campsites I felt more strongly that I had this valley to myself. It was a Sunday, and few day hikers would make it this far, and most overnight campers would have headed back by now. Snow also blocked the passes that would allow later summer access into the Elwha.

Near the Elkhorn campsite, I climbed a small rise in the trail and startled a deer just 15 feet ahead of me. It thought twice about running downhill toward the churning Elwha river, and then dug its front hooves into the step slope above the trail and pulled itself up. I walked by and we stared at each other, still only about 15 feet apart. The terrain was rough and the deer gave me a "you're not really going to case me, are you" look with an expression that clearly read "I don't want to climb this slope any higher on account of you".

Elkhorn was a flat field with an excellent view of the river. I suspected that if anyone else was still in this part of the valley, the would be camped here. But the lean-to and ranger station were empty and only the elk horns mounted on the trees watched over the scenery.

Further down the trail a sudden movement brought me to a halt. I noticed a large dark bird moving quickly through the undergrowth, then picked out her brood of chicks scattering for cover. I waited until I felt the chicks were far enough from me and resumed my pace down the trail. However, the mother grouse still perceived me as a threat and at first acted injured to draw me away from her chicks. I continued straight down the trail, which provoked her ire, she leaped up on a log, puffed her feathers, spread her wings and squawked at me. Then she charged. I quickly backed up not wanting to have to punt the grouse - which I felt sure would break some kind of park rule - nor wanting to find out just how badly her claws could scratch my legs up. She backed off, but continued to guard my way, so I branched off trail, and worked around her position in a wide arch, all the while under the watchful eyes of mother grouse.

Remanns Cabin was the next milestone I reached. A side trail forded the creek - which looked extremely cold and uninviting at this time of year, but I headed upward, still following the main body of the Elwha River.

Before the next campsites, I passed a pair of disintegrating sneakers left under a tree, beginning to become a nursery for several small plants. More impressive was the log foot bridge I passed over which had been scraped out and filled with river stones. The 3 colors and textures of surrounding ferns, wood grain and gray stones produced one of my favorite pictures of the hike.

Near the Hayes River bridge I stopped to air dry my feet and socks and snack a bit. I'd already come nearly 8 miles and planned to hike back much or all of that today as well. I had wanted to hike most of the day, but also didn't want to push myself too hard and not save any energy for my attempt to climb Mt Rainier later this week. I determined to cross the Hayes and walk on to Camp Wilder then turn around. If I went all the way back to Marys Falls, that would generate a 23 mile day, plenty long enough since I'd been carrying all my supplies with me today.

Heading off I began to hear what sounded exactly like a hiker's signal whistle. I thought of answering it, but became convinced that it belonged to a bird. Shortly thereafter, I came across a group of three trail crew members who were hiking out after 5 days of work. I was impressed that one was carrying a full-sized chain saw in his arms and thanked them for all their efforts to clear the massive trees from the trail. I almost asked them if they'd been blowing emergency whistles, but thought better of it.

Camp Wilder contained a run down lean-to and none of the pastoral beauty of Elkhorn. I quickly turned around and retreated back the way I'd come to the first scenic creek for a snack and rest.

I passed by one particularly large tree, and setup my tripod on a nearby stump for a self portrait. The size of the tree didn't register until later when I reviewed the photo and noticed just how tiny I looked in comparison.

I kept my eye out for the protective grouse, but the only one I saw just played the "lame duck" routine and didn't attempt to charge me. Instead, I noticed several deer feeding in open clearings. The deer usually took one look and resumed their business. The lack of hunting in the park hadn't taught the grouse or deer about the dangers man could present.

I took a long break to enjoy Elkhorn's fields and to heat some water for soup. I spotted another river rapid running duck and a deer who sat in some high grass and just watched me the whole time. I soaked my feet in the cold water and hopped around on the smooth rocks before returning to an empty Mary Falls campsite.

I planned to finish my hike out the next morning, but that night I unfolded my large map of the entire park and picked out a loop of trails that might take a week or more to walk and explore.