Category: Elwha River

Yes, we were a little nervous…

Yes, we were a little nervous…

On a dayhike up to Martins Park above Low Divide (between the Elwha and North Fork Quinault river valleys in the Olympic National Park), we saw this black bear browsing the fresh greens. We were a little nervous … the above photo was taken with a normal lens … not a telephoto. But we had seen black bears a number of times before and hadn’t found them aggressive. Regardless, we didn’t stay around to do any bear watching. Our nervousness increased quite dramatically when the bear followed us for a mile or so down to near where our campsite was at Low Divide. We took special care to bear proof our food that night.

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Happy Hollow

Happy Hollow Shelter

Happy Hollow Shelter is located 26.3 miles (42.3 km) from the Whiskey Bend trailhead of the Elwha River trail (it is the last shelter along the Elwha trail). You can see from the overgrown condition of the trail that this area of the Olympic National Park doesn’t get a lot of traffic. The shelters are provided for emergency use only … and one should expect to share any shelter in the Olympics with a large population of mice.

Below is the Happy Hollow outhouse. I don’t think I need to provide any additional comments, except maybe privacy is not guaranteed.

Happy Hollow Outhouse

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Clouds and Ridges

The top image is looking across the valley of the Elwha to the north end of the Bailey Range … central section of the Olympic National Park. The image below is looking farther south to the central section of the Bailey Range. Besides the beauty of the clouds and weather with the interplay with the ridges, the unsettled weather keeps the crowds down.

Clouds and Ridges 2
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Atmospheric Effects

Central Olympics with Bear Gulch Smoke

The previous post showed the smoke from the Bear Gulch fire being blown into the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic National Park where we were hiking. Before the smoke got dense, there were some interesting shots available showing atmospheric effects from lesser amounts of smoke. The image above is looking east across the Elwha River valley to the Bailey Range and just the very top of Mt Olympus. Below is from the same time/location but looking south down the valley of the Elwha.

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Smoke Comin’ In

Smoke in the Distance

Recently we went for a hike up in the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park, which is at the opposite end of the park from the Bear Gulch fire area. The wind was blowing from the south, however and over the course of the couple hours we hiked the smoke blew in up the Elwha Valley (image center). On the return trip, I was stunned at how the smoke had built up (we had been hiking in the woods where there was no view to the south). Below is a photo from the same location, about an hour and a half later than the top image.

Smoke Close Enough to Smell

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