Sol Duc

A hot spring soak in the morning, a fun & scenic paddle, followed up by a bike ride shuttle on the Olympic Discovery trail - what a great way to spend a day! Despite low flows, the Sol Duc served up some fun whitewater and great wildlife viewing. Flows were 17.65ft on the Quialuyette gauge on 4/5/26. Ariel, Brad, and I paddled from the Salmon Cascades to Klahowya campground.

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After a wakeup coffee, we dropped a bike at Klahowya campground. The gate was locked and campground was closed so it added about a quarter mile walk to the logistics. We then drove to the Sol Duc valley inside Olympic National Park, America the Beautiful / park pass required. The Sol Duc Hot springs road is gated over the winter, and had just opened up at the end of March. There is a hike in option via the adjacent forest road that stays open during the winter when the np road is closed.

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After a sunrise soak session at Sol Duc Hot springs, we headed to our put in below Salmon Cascades. Some photographers were taking shots of steelhead trying to make their way up the Cascades. We didn't see any trying to make the leap, but didn't watch for long. We did however see a big steelhead swimming not far downstream of the falls. We also saw several pairs of harlequins along the river.

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The rapids up top were a bit low, but fun to navigate. There was one cobble bar right bend just above the NF confluence where we got out river right and portaged a log jam hazard on the left bank. With more water it probably would have been possible to run further right to sneak it. Ledge drop was fun! We passed under the typical forest rd bridge takeout to extend our paddle on a nice sunny day. We eventually took out at a nice sunny beach at Klahowya.

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Ariel bike shuttled back to Salmon Cascades. The trail follows the Olympic Discovery Trail, SF Sol Duc forest road 2918, and a bit of the Sol Duc Hot Spring rd. What a nice bike shuttle with minimal cars! A worthy bike ride in its own right. Because the campground gate was closed, we had to walk our gear a bit more than a quarter mile to the park entrance. All in all, made a wonderful day.