For my first hike of the season, I hiked up the Elwha River trail to the Elkhorn Ranger Station, a two-day trip of 11.3 miles each way. I came back mighty sore...guess I was more out of shape than I thought!
But the weather was beautiful, the scenery superb, and the trail was mostly in good shape. It was a great way to start the season. Click on the photos to see a larger version.
Since this trail is one of the most popular trails in the park, it's also one of the nicest. It's wide, with a good tread and decent slopes. Some awesome stands of oldgrowth timber in the lower stretches.
Although the trail stays high above the river at first (to avoid the Grand Canyon of the Elwha), it eventually comes back down to the river. The river was high because of spring snowmelt, broad and rapid.
Used the timer to get myself in the photo.
By 3:30 in the afternoon I reached Elkhorn. I was beat, so I flopped down in the meadow and smelled the warm grass. What a beautiful place.
I was the only hiker, so I had the place to myself, but there was a volunteer ranger named Nancy at the ranger station. She filled me in on the park. The ranger station is a beautiful historic log cabin.
I slept under the stars in the meadow. Here's a photo of me cooking breakfast.
At the visitor center I read that some of the blazes from the historic Press Expedition of 1890-1891 were still visible. I wondered about that, so I kept my eyes open. Sure enough, I saw this ancient blaze that the tree had nearly healed over the years. On the other side of the tree there was a blaze that looked like it had grown four or five inches deep around the dead wood. So I think it could have been 125 years old.
I got to the trailhead at 2:00 on Saturday. I was beat. Probably I should have chosen an easier hike for the first of the season, but it was worth it to get to Elkhorn. What a beautiful place. I'll be back someday.
My permit from Olympic National Park.
