Rivers
Rivers in the Park
Mineralized stream, West Lake Mills Trail, Olympic Nat’l Park
Mineralized stream, West Lake Mills Trail follows the former shoreline of the former Lake Mills, now drained as part of the Elwha River Restoration Project. Well out along this 2 mile trail is a small stream, in which everything the water flows over and splashes on, is heavily encrusted with lime.
Mineralized stream, Michael’s Cabin, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park
Michael’s Cabin is a preserved historic log cabin about 1.8 mi from the beginning of the Elwha River Trail, a major trail in Olympic National Park. Near this cabin a small brook crosses the trail, and everything the water touches or splashes on is coated with (what looks like) lime.
Observation Point, Olympic Hotsprings Road, Olympic Nat’l Park old feature of old road - with a new future?
Obvervation Point rock-cut, Olympic Hotsprings Road
Observation Point is a small developed lookout above the now-drained of Lake Mills reservoir of the Elwha River, along the Olympic Hot Springs Road on a jutting shoulder of Happy Lake Ridge. The road then turns and heads into the Boulder Creek canyon. In former times, the hillside below the little lookout parking lot was cleared of trees growing up and blocking the view. But more recently, it has become evident that this clearing is no longer being done. With the new valley below – the Elwha Restoration Project – will Olympic National Park again remove trees to restore this viewscape? … cont’d >
Elwha Basin river crossing alternative stream-crossings are an underrated hazard
Elwha Basin
Elwha Basin river crossing alternative describes a good way to avoid the standard crossing of the Elwha River, near its headwater, usually as part of using the Elwha Snow Finger route between the high-country and the lowlands (and the official trail system). The Elwha, though small here, is steeper than it looks: the normal crossing-point is impossible in any kind of high water; it is frequently dangerous, and usually difficult. There is a ready and favorable alternative, using the lower toe of Mount Seattle, which in the map-crop is the prominent ridge between the main river and Elwha Basin Way Trail, and the southern part of the Basin. … cont’d >
Cat Creek, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park Elwha river tributary, Olympic Park
Cat Creek delta and lower canyon, from Upper Lake Mills Trail
Cat Creek is a left-bank, western tributary of the middle Elwha River, a drainage of the Bailey Range of the Olympic Mountains in the Olympic National Park. There are no trails (or roads) into this watershed. Partial views into Cat-terrain can be had from the subalpine Hurricane Ridge Recreation Area. Good glimpses of the lower & middle reaches of its cleft into the Baileys massif are easily obtained via the 0.4 mile Upper Lake Mills Trail, which ends directly across the river from the Cat junction. … cont’d >
Convulsion Canyon, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park dramatic scene & events on the Elwha River
Convulsion Canyon, Elwha River
Convulsion Canyon is now an informal or ‘cultural’ name for a notable stretch or spot along the Elwha River, in the Olympic National Park. It is immediately upstream of the popular Geyser Valley and Humes Ranch day-use areas, and is the bottom end of the Elwha’s Grand Canyon. The steel suspension cable Long Ridge Trail Bridge is strung between the cliffs at this spot, allowing the hiker to look upstream into the gorge, and downstream into the broad Valley, from perhaps 50 feet above the river. People refer to this site as Convulsion Canyon, although it appears to officially be ‘just’ the bottom end of Grand Canyon. … cont’d >
Rica Canyon, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park the Elwha River between Hurricane Hill and Mt Fitzhenry
Rica Canyon topo quad crop, ca 1950
Rica Canyon is cut by the Elwha River through an elevated bedrock formation between the southwest base of Hurricane Hill on the river’s right bank, and east flank of Mount Fitzhenry on the left bank. It is incised mainly through sandstone and shale. It is crowded hard up against the steep convex base of Hurricane (which can be examined at Elk Overlook), and set away from Fitzhenry where its mild concave skirt meets its neighbor. The raw, vertical portions of the canyon walls are 100 to 200 feet high, with very steep approaches extending up to several hundred feet highter (especially on the Hurricane side). … cont’d >
Lake Mills, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park the upper former Elwha River reservoir
Lake Mills from east dam abutment
Lake Mills was a more popular and better recreational venue than the more readily-accessible lower reservoir on the Elwha River (Lake Aldwell), even though it was farther & slower to get to. And Mills had more regulations and restrictions, because it was within Olympic National Park, while the lower lake & dam were entirely outside the Park, and in legal multi-use (mostly State timber) lands. The settings of both are pretty & evocative (then, as now, with the lakes & dams gone); the abrupt plunging-hillside forested ‘shores’ (rather ‘harsh’; no beaches, only occasional small pull-outs) were comparable in both cases. … cont’d >
Long Ridge Trail, Olympic Nat’l Park best view in interior Olympic National Park
Long Ridge Trail takes about 14 miles to ascend Dodger Point, from the Whiskey Bend Trailhead. Dodger hosted the old Forest Service fire lookout, before this country was Olympic National Park. Virtually the entirety of the interior Elwha River valley is in view; along with eastern and southern peaks of the Olympic Mountains, and much of the Bailey Range to the west. Unlike most trails in the Olympics, Long Ridge was purpose-built to commercial & professional pack-horse specifications, which means the grade is steady, even and smooth. With less than 500 feet elevation per mile, this trail is especial fast, coming back downhill. … cont’d >