Elwha River and Geyser Valley, Elwha River and Lillian River — Friday, Jun. 23, 2023

I led a 6-person volunteer crew (Graywolf / BCH) to clear the Elwha of logs from Elkhorn to Low Divide - plus do some urgent tread work where needed. 

We had ONP stock support to get our gear to Elkhorn. We schlepped it from there to Low Divide, always moving camp and never able to move camp and tools at the same time. So we hiked about 100 miles, much of it heavy.

BCH volunteer packers packed us out from Wilder (yay!).

We were there from 6-9 days, depending on the crew member as I don't require folks to commit to all or nothing. (packers took 3 days). We cut out 95 logs, many of them large and some of them complex. 

This was a major effort with tons of communication, prep and coordination across agencies and people. 

At this point the trail is 100% clear of logs from Low Divide to the trailhead (ONP crews cleared to Elkhorn), except for one quick duck-under that was too large for how much saw gas we had left. 

Stock are good to go at least to Wilder. At 1.2 miles north of Chicago there doesn't appear to be a current stock ford across a stream (6 foot dropoff bank). Then the trail from Chicago to Low Divide, while fine for a while, is a mess near the top. Stock not advised up there.

The Elwha ford was fine - easy in fact.

The log at Chicago did break in two as I'm sure everyone knows by now, but the gap is filled with branch and small tree debris. We shored it up to make it more stable to step on. The bunchberries were crazy gorgeous carpeting the forest floor in the Chicago camp area. 

If you want a tree-free hike, now might be the time. 

The limit of 4 pictures won't really tell the whole story, but better than nothing. :-)