<< Dungeness Spit
 

04/10/25 - Elwha to Altair - Springwatch

It's springwatch, and one of our favorite places to watch for signs of spring is the Elwha valley. We start at Madison Falls, the end of Olympic Hot Springs Road, and make our way via the detour through the hills behind the old campground, to the Altair Bridge. We've already spotted fawn lilies and trilliums and checked out the skunk cabbage. There were more trilliums this time and the skunk cabbage was going strong.

Along the detour route, we spotted some park people redoing the trail a bit. They were carrying some heavy boards to shore up parts of the trail. There were sections where the trail had been recut since runs along the face of a ridge. It looks like they are doing serious maintenance which is good to see. For example, there was an extremely muddy section of the trail, and, some time back, they set up a new route on higher ground.

From the Altair Bridge we saw a couple of park workers doing some kind of measurement. This involved setting up a rope and wading across the stream a bit downriver of the bridge. We've seen this before. We still aren't sure what they are doing. Measuring the flow? Setting up to count fish? Again, it was good to see them wet and at work as yet another sign of spring.


Fawn lilies


Fawn lily leaves


Mountain view

The twins - double trilliums

More trilliums

The Elwha River


Olympic Hot Springs Road


Clouds

Clouds and snow

Skunk cabbage

Mystery bird



From the bridge

Getting ready to wade

Currant



The mules are back.

Keywords: elwha, olympic hot springs, spring, trilliums