Elwha River and Lillian River — Wednesday, May. 14, 2025

This is a great snow-free backpack route, close-by or within earshot of the powerful Elwha River to the idealic Elkhorn site, about a 36-mile round-trip (I did not go up the Lillian River Trail).  Though the first 6.8 miles are described as a "road-walk," only about 1.5 miles of that is hard-top, with .8 miles of a rather steep up-and-over reroute trail to get around the Olympic Hotsprings Road washout, and the rest a fairly gentle climb of Whiskey Bend Road, which is shaded most of the way and soft underfoot for a gravel road.  Of course, the highlight of the approach to the old trailhead at Whiskey Bend is the former Glines Canyon Dam overlook, which seems a little bit more remote and less visited than the westside overlook accessed from the old Olympic Hotsprings Road, and thus has none of the interpretive signage about the dam removal and river restoration.

The road and trail is clear of obstacles almost to Mary's Falls backcountry site, where a large, complicated blowdown blocks the trail.  There are  several more minor blowdowns enroute Elkhorn, but all are easily surmounted with a little care.

Lots of bear scat along the upper sections of the route, and indeed I arrived at the Mary's Falls individual tent sites (which are quite low and close to the river) to find a healthy specimen placidly grazing its way upriver, quite unconcerned that I had just arrived from a 15+mile hike.  I retreated upwards to camp at the unoccupied group site, which I woud probably have done anyway as the other sites are still quite overgrown with tall grass, as was Elkhorn further uptrail.   Mary's Falls has a beautiful newish privy.  (Note: Lillian River individual sites are quite sparse and fully shaded, the privy is precariously perched on the upslope just below the switchback and has no roof; the group site is across the river and much better.   Canyon site is close to the river and very overgrown with only one site close to trail.  There are bear wires at Lillian, Mary's and Elkhorn, but I did not see one at Canyon.)

Elkhorn is a great place to have a lazy day, especially in inclement weather, with two shelters available; one is a dirt-floor shed with a raised platform at the back, the other is a raised wooden-floored shelter with cooking surface and bunks on two sides.  Just upriver beyond the privy (also in great condition) is a beautiful hall of mossy trees before a horse gate.  I thoroughly enjoyed this low-country experience and the relative solitude afforded by the road washout and early season.  Lots of options to connect up with other loops over Hurricane Ridge (two trails) and on towards Hayden Pass, Cameron, or the Dosewallips.  On the long hike out I was lucky to encounter a large elkherd grazing through the low forest just upriver from Mary's Falls.