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Verily, there is also the Olympic Hot Springs Abandoned Trail, which the road superceded with the same destination, and inherited the name.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 >