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05/01/16 - The Mouth of the Elwha

Now that the dams are down we returned to the mouth of the Elwha for the first time in years. Place Road leads north from route 112. It heads down towards the Strait. At the base of the descent, we took a left turn and found a place to park. Not much seems to have changed, though there were more cars parked there than last time.

We headed north along the lagoon. We could see Striped Peak across Freshwater bay to the west. Then we noticed our first change. There was a lot more beach here, and not just because it was low tide. The Elwha has been depositing silt and growing the beach about the river’s mouth. We walked out onto the beach. It reminded us a lot of Dungeness Spit, a great place for a picnic and exploring driftwood.

We followed the beach. There were gentle breakers as we headed north, then turned east. Then we met the Elwha, a big swift river now, riding out to the strait and meeting it with a wall of breakers. We turned south and followed the beach alongside the river. The freshwater flow was brisk and powerful. The Elwha has definitely changed since the dams were taken down.












Keywords: elwha, striped peak