Washington State...July 2002
The map on the left show's the route I hiked. The trail will be marked with a 'yellow' line. If you look at the Map it will show that the trail starts at 'Whiskey Bend', then heads south to 'North Fork'. The hike will take 4 1/2 days.
Just click on the pictures to enlarge photo's.
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| The Beginning | Michaels Ranch | Lillian River | First night | Trail and Moss | Elwha River | Canyon Camp |
INTERESTING FACTS:
When Washington State was established this large N.W. area of the state was designated a National Park. The early pioneers doing the surveying reported the awesome sites and scenery as being 'extraordinarly beautiful'.
Although American Indians utilized and traveled through the mountains of the peninsula, it was not until 1885 that the first systematic exploration of the interior of the Olympic Peninsula was made. That year Lt. Joseph P. O'Neil led the first documented expedition into the interior. In 1889-90 the Press expedition led by James Christie made a north to south crossing in five and one-half months. In 1890 Lt. O'Neal returned and made an east-west crossing. Slowly a movement got underway to set aside some of the peninsula as a national park.
In 1897 President Grover Cleveland created the Olympic Forest Reserve, a portion of which President Theodore Roosevelt designated a national monument in 1909.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating Olympic National Park and in 1988 nearly 96 percent of the park was designated as wilderness.
Since that time they have selectively added some camp grounds, which are placed around the perimeter of the Park, along with some hiking trails. Whats unusual for Washingon State is you won't run across any logging roads as you walk through the trails, because theres been no logging allowed. Also, if a tree falls across the trail, just the part that blocks the trail is cut-out, and the cut-out chunk of wood is left in the woods along side the trail. Upon seeing this I can see that the Olympic National Park service is very dedicated to leaving the forest virtually untouched.