• Olympic: Three Parks in One

    Olympic

    National Park Washington

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  • Olympic Hot Springs Road Closed

    The Elwha Valley's Olympic Hot Springs Road is closed to public entry beyond the Altair Campground during removal of the Glines Canyon Dam. Olympic Hot Springs is not accessible from the Elwha.

  • Elwha River Closures

    Boating is prohibited on the Elwha River from Upper Lake Mills Trail downstream to the Highway 112 bridge, except for the stretch between Altair Campground and the Highway 101 bridge.

  • Changes to Visitor Services Due to Sequestration

    Due to mandatory, across the board budget cuts, some visitor services at Olympic National Park have changed. See the Plan Your Visit section for more information.

The Fraser Glaciation

An aerial photo of gravel bars along the Elwha River

An aerial photo of gravel bars along the Elwha River including Krause Bottom and present day Humes Ranch

NPS

The Beginning:
During the Fraser Glaciation, which occurred between 25,000 and 10,000 years ago, sheets of ice up to 5,000 feet thick covered current day Elwha area. Though it is uncertain as to how the area looked prior to the glacial retreat, striations in bedrock and deposited boulders give a clue as to the approximate path by which the ice moved.

As the glaciers receded, they carved through the land, creating troughs between the mountains and leaving behind streams from which water flowed in route to the ocean. When the ice retreated from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, fish began to recolonize the 70 miles of pristine aquatic habitat which was named the Elwha by the native inhabitants of the land who came many years later.

 
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This webpage was made possible in part by a grant from Washington's National Park Fund.
  • Historic Fish Runs in the Elwha Historic Fish Runs in the Elwha

    Click here to learn more about historic fish runs before dam construction! Read More

Did You Know?

marmot

Although related to other marmots and groundhogs of North America, the Olympic marmot is unique.  An endemic species, it is found only in the Olympic Mountains.  Visitors to the high country of Olympic National Park may be lucky enough to encounter a marmot sunning itself near its burrow.