Upper Lake Mills Trailhead approach
Upper Lake Mills Trailhead is an unimposing pullout on the gravel Whiskey Bend Road, a one-lane montane ‘improved goat-trail’ that serves the important and nearby Whiskey Bend Trailhead. The pullout serves the Upper Lake Mills Trail, or if it is full use Whiskey Bend at road’s end, and walk a couple of tenths mile back down. The trailhead is a little less than 5 miles up Whiskey Bend Road, which is mainly single-lane with turnouts.
Elwha River rapids, Olympic Hotsprings Road, Olympic Park
Elwha River drains the central and interior Olympic Mountains, flowing to the north and emptying into the central Strait of Juan de Fuca. It’s a principle watershed on the Olympic Peninsula, of far northwestern Washington State. The upstream portion of Elwha is entirely contained within Olympic National Park; it is an important developed tourist destination for the Park, and is a rewarding & diverse riverine recreation area for locals & visitors alike. … cont’d >
Elk Overlook is the first side-trail and first named attraction one comes to, only about 3/4 mile up the main Elwha River Trail from the Whiskey Bend Trailhead, in the Olympic National Park. The intended view is of the Anderson Ranch meadow, where sometimes folks see the local elk herd feeding or bedded down. It’s worth a lot of dry runs down the hill, for the occasional sighting. Even without any elk, good views are of course not the rule in these dense forests, and any opportunity to see through the canopy from a good perch is worthwhile, whether the herd is there or not. … cont’d >
Benchmark Rock and Long Creek view
Benchmark Rock is an informal spot about 3/4 mile up the Elwha River Trail from its beginning at the Whiskey Bend Trailhead. The author Robert L. Wood, in his book Olympic Mountains Trail Guide, refers to the location as Benchmark Rock, in his Elwha Trail section (pg 40). (Note that historically & culturally, the name of this trail is sometimes seen as Elwha Trail, and other times as Elwha River Trail. The Park uses the later name today.) … cont’d >
The Olympic Hot Springs Road is sometimes seen referred to as the Elwha River Road. Locals are not affected … even though they also practice & perpetuate the ambiguous usage.
The road that visitors to the Olympic National Park and the facilities & recreation along the Elwha River will be looking for is the Olympic Hot Springs Road. Not the Elwha River Road.
There are roads outside the Park, near and around the lower, downstream reaches of the river, one or more of which at various time have been called Elwha River Road … but the one going into the Park has been the Olympic Hot Springs Road, since early in the 20th C.
Verily, there is also the Olympic Hot Springs Abandoned Trail, which the road superceded with the same destination, and inherited the name.
Olympic Hotsprings Road – Highway 101 junction
Olympic Hot Springs Road leaves US Highway 101 at its bridge over the Elwha River and goes up the valley (south), soon entering the Olympic National Park. The junction is about 10 minutes west of Port Angeles. This is the road that leads to popular recreational areas on & around the river, to the Elwha Ranger Station, and provides access to various river-valley campgrounds and backcountry trails. It also gives access to the Glines Canyon Dam and Lake Mills, both slated for elimination in the high-profile Elwha River Restoration Project (both now gone, end of 2014). … cont’d >
Map-fragment closeup of Goblins Gate
[G]oblins Gate is a dramatic entrance to the Rica Canyon of the Elwha River in Olympic National Park. It’s at the lower end of Geyser Valley and the Humes Ranch area. The river is suddenly pinched into a narrow canyon between vertical rock walls (like a gate). It is an easy day-hike to Goblins Gate, via Rica Canyon Trail.
A broad, low ridge of resistant rock, a few hundred feet high, runs athwart the main Elwha River channel, at the bottom end of Geyser Valley, and the river cuts through it. … cont’d >
Log boom dam guard Lake Aldwell
Lake Aldwell is the impoundment of the Elwha River above the lower of the two dams on it (both slated for removal in 2011).
The main local two-lane road through this region, Highway 101, makes a moderately steep descent from the east, to the bridge crossing the Elwha a short ways above the upper end of the lake. This slope forms the eastern side of the lake, and at the top before the road descends, is a large paved pullout & viewpoint. There are views of Lake Aldwell, and excellent views further up the Elwha River valley and surrounding & interior (National Park) mountains. … cont’d >
Anderson Ranch meadow, from south upsteam end
Anderson Ranch is a large river-bottom, flood-plain meadow on the left bank of the Elwha River; it lies immediately upstream of Goblins Gate. More fully, or historically, it was the Billy Anderson Ranch, and that name will sometimes be seen. It is quite near the beginning of the main Elwha River Trail, but is on the opposite side of the river.
To get to the Ranch, start from the Whiskey Bend Trailhead, where the main Elwha trail starts and follow it up-river through the Humes Ranch area (a popular day-hiking complex). Use the steel suspension Long Ridge Trail Bridge that (dramatically) crosses the river to give access to Long Ridge Trail. Then hike cross-country back down the other side to the Ranch. Or, much more direct, if the water is unusually low (late summer, fall, maybe), robust types ford the river from the foot of Rica Canyon Trail. … cont’d >
Rica Canyon Trail sign
The Rica Canyon trail begins at the 3rd intersection up the main Elwha River Trail, about 1.1 miles out of the Whiskey Bend Trailhead. The first two junctions are both for a short side-loop trail called Elk Overlook, which is a nice viewpoint for Anderson Ranch, itself an off-trail day-hike. It’s easy to miss the Overlook return junction, heading up-trail, which makes a bit of a stealth reentry. The Rica spur-trail leads several hundred feet down-slope to the river at the downstream end of Geyser Valley (no geysers), where the Elwha makes a dramatic entry into Rica Canyon at a feature known as Goblins Gate, a narrow slot with vertical cliffs on both sides. This is where the river enters Rica Canyon. … cont’d >