| Difficulty | V |
| Length | 10.5 mi |
| Avg Gradient | 70 fpm |
| Permit | A wilderness permit is required for overnight trips in the Elwha River valley. |
| Gauge | Elwha River at Mcdonald Br Near Port Angeles, Wa |
| Flow Rate as of 11 minutes | 298 cfsbelow recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | May 31, 2019 |
American Whitewater is proud to be a leading partner in the Wild Olympics Campaign, a collaborative effort to protect the wild rivers, ancient forests, and salmon habitat of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Working alongside conservation and recreation organizations, American Whitewater helped launch this campaign with the leadership of our local [...]Read More
SEASON: July through September
FUN FACT: Incredible canyon run through Olympic National Park
LOGISTICS: At mile 239.5 on Highway 101 take Olympic Hotsprings Road south through the National Park entrance. Continue 4.0 miles up this road and take the left-hand turn up to Whiskey Bend. As you proceed up this road you'll reach the historic Glines Canyon Dam site at mile 1.2 where you can walk out on to a remanant of the dam that provides a high vantage scout of Glines Canyon. Continuing up the road to mile 4.0, there is a trail that leads down to the exit from Rica Canyon and the historic start of the Mills Reservoir (marked with a small sign that reads, 'to Lake Mills'). This has been a popular take-out option for those who want to end their run with Rica Canyon although it requires a steep climb up a 0.4 mile trail. The road ends at mile 4.4 which is the trailhead. This trailhead is popular with horsemen so make sure you don't park in their unloading area and if you do see horses on the trail step aside and wait for them to pass. Park rangers have reported that horses have been startled by folks dragging their boats up the trail, so just take a quick rest break when you encounter them. The trail starts out fairly level for the first 1.9 miles to the Michael's Cabin. From there you have your first climb up and then it's level for a bit until you drop down and cross the Lillian River at trail mile 4.7. Once you cross the bridge you have to climb back up regaining most of the altitude you just lost in descending into the Lillian River Valley. The hike then levels off again for the last couple miles before finally dropping down to the river just downstream of Prescott Creek at trail mile 8.5. For those who want to taste the whitewater on a day trip, you can walk in to Rica Canyon. From the parking area, it's a 1.2 mile hike up to the junction of the Rica Canyon trail which heads 0.5 miles down to the river (put-in on the gravel bar when you reach the river)
...The remants of Glines Canyon Dam high above on the canyon walls mark the entrance to this canyon. While blasting to remove barriers to fish migration has removed some of the hazards, it is still important to scout before committing.
Aug 7, 2006
The sneak route (left) in Nightmare is plugged with a log. This is visible from the logjam in the drop above Nightmare.
Secret Chute is also plugged with a log. The next door to the left worked at low flow.
Jul 9, 2004
July 2004 Update, provided by Erik Schertzl
Four of us ran The Grand Canyon of The Elwha on Monday the 5th of July. We hadn't heard of anyone going through there since the floods of October. We were a bit concerned about new wood in bad places and changes to the rapids themselves. Between all of us, everything got run.
We were pleasantly surprised to find no bad wood in The Grand Canyon. There was some, but none that caused any problems. We guessed that a few rapids have changed, but it's hard to confirm as none of us had done the run prior. We're only able to go off pics from the internet and word of mouth.
All the lines appear to be standard. Nightmare was fine on the left (after some concern about running it blind & feeble attempts to scout). There is a very bad seive on the right side that none of us had ever heard of. It's ugly for sure. Most likely sneak the entrance on the left and stay there.
Rica Canyon has a major log-jam blocking the entrance at Goblin's Gate. There's a way around it. Hit me off line for that beta. Goblin's Gate Rapid has changed. No longer run the second ledge center; it's far right or left there.
If anyone goes through there in the next few weeks, please keep an eye out for a digital camera/case left up in the Grand Canyon by one member of our group. It should be on the right bank at the drop above Nightmare.
Unfortunately, the floods of Oct didn't change the hike in (making it shorter?). It's still a push (but beautiful). What an amazing run!