Olympic National Park -Elwha (Day 1)

After Hurricane Ridge, I drove to my next destination, Elwha. I was told it was a beautiful river canyon area, and that it has some incredible sights. That was true! There's a dam along the river that I found out is going to be torn down in a few years. The Glines Canyon Dam is 210 feet tall and HUGE! From where the water was being funneled out from the top, down to the river below, was a LONG way down! I guess there's been a long dream of getting the salmon back up into the canyon, which means the dam needs to go, and that's obviously a long process of diverting water, etc.... We'll have to watch for this in the news in the next few years.

One thing I love about National Parks is getting to meet people. This drive is where I kept running into Hal, a guy in his 60's from Port Angeles who comes to the park on his days off. We kept stopping at the same places (I would take pictures, he was bird-watching) and he was really nice to tell me more about what I was seeing. I also met a couple from Spokane who came to the area just to stay at a hotel he had heard about. It's an old train, and each room is a renovated box-car! He loves trains and had always wanted to stay there! How great!

The last thing I did before leaving the Elwha area, was hike to the waterfall near the entrance. WOW!!!! It was amazing! Very beautiful!