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 >