#26 Been a bit But worth it!

I miss that area. I don't see that road ever opening back up.

Is it like this every year?

Awesome Video! Keep them coming.

Thanks for having us along1

Ha, I normally get out on the trail, pull out my GoPro and realize I forgot to put a memory card in it. Great photos! Thanks as always.

in a few years to be someones video about a stone wall or ancient temple

That is our favorite spot to ride from both east or west from there and even down cooper road an on the NF roods off Cooper. Need to be careful as it can get mossy in the wet / cool season and gets pretty slippery if you turn sharp

Beautiful vike ride thru the forest.Thanks Dan

Very Kind of you to take your Bike out for a walk along this beautiful river.

I remember when the rails were in. Used to go right through the State Park. Which I took pictures. :(

That was cool thanks!

I just visited this site in April 2024. The road didn't look familiar but the dam site overlook is exactly as remarkable and clear. (The tire tracks you mentioned in the video might have been from the fisheries guy I met on the way who backed his truck all the way down to check some monitors near those concrete blocks and then had traction to get back up. He had very positive things to say about the fish populations.)

I think it looks better without the lodge. I wish tourists would stop treating it like their own personal dog walking park. It is unreal I have to tell people to get their dog out of wildlife restoration areas that have no dog signs everywhere and the park expressly says dog's are essentially banned on all trails except the handful expressly listed on the signs that no one reads.

Neat. I'm pretty sure most of the trees at the restoration site are Alder. Alder is in the Berch family and poplar is a type of willow. The dominant deciduous trees on the Elwha (and the Olympic peninsula) are Alder, Black Cotton Wood and Big leaf maple. There are a bunch of willow but they're significantly less dense and alders rapidly overtake them. Fun fact the entire Olympic peninsula was clear cut before it became a park... which is why it's hard to find trees over 200 years old even though most native evergreens can live well over 2,000 years. You can still see some of the giant stumps on the Elwha restoration area because the mud slurry preserved all the stumps that in other places have already decomposed and been forgotten.

Love these videos thank you Dan. As a civil engineer I was fascinated how the dam was removed but even more interested in the recovery of the river long term. There were a few podcasts on it in covid but they have all finished. Don’t know how the natives fish species are now doing have they showed signs of recovering. I do want to visit one day I’m 41 and have made it a life goal to stand on the old dam and look out over that valley such an amazing view

Always fun trip up the Elwha with you, ty Dan

Thank you for the trip👌🇩🇰

I just wondered if the Salmon and Stealhead trout have com back in large numbers ?

So beautiful to see the river flowing freely

It's both beautiful and sad to see my former peach home gone and playground altered. I am thrilled to see the two trees we planted remain. I'm certain giant 1980s satellite dish is not missed by anyone. I have fond memories helping change the bulbs of those gorgeous lamps on the dam. Being one of two families living on the lake was incredibly special. Fishing, swimming, hiking, camping on the dock, taking the boat to the southern tip for a picnic, the natural hot springs, and the abundance of wildlife encounters all were a part of daily life. I miss the incredible thunderstorms. They were spectacular. One Thanksgiving snow brought down several trees on the road. Returning from my grandmother's in PA we drove over a couple small trees before being confronted by a massive one. At that point we had no option but to get out and hike the next two miles home in nearly two feet of snow. My mother was furious we forgot the chainsaw. It funny to think about that now. But ensuring the chainsaw, oil, and fuel were in the back of the truck was as normal as putting a coat on. Trees came down all the time. If you weren't prepared to remove them you hiked home. If we were quick about it the rangers wouldn't know we took most of the wood. Our basement was filled with wood to feed the giant insatiable stone fireplace. I'm sure they knew but turned a blind eye since we often reopened miles of the road clearing fallen trees. That's not to say we didn't deliver tons of wood to the rangers homes as well. Poaching would have crossed the line. The only game we had was a few pounds of venison each year from my uncles and the year a ranger hit a buck. Patsy, our lab, tried in vein to nab a bird or squirrel. She was always too slow. Haha Fond memories indeed....

I watched the lake bed restoration webcams for years after the dams went down (they're now long gone), and this update is very appreciated!

Beautiful. Nice to see the vegetation coming back.

She is free

It might be easier to lock the bike on a tree and walk it solo....thanks for the video!

Success!!!

I'm super late but thanks for showing this. I was wondering what it looked like now.

Thanks for the video. I hiked up to the old dam site last fall. It's amazing how much debris has accumulated on the road in 6 months.

Awesome. Hiked only so far down that trail (road), so this was actually the first time I could see what awaits you at the end.. (and in the middle). Thank you :D Great video.

You are such a warrior! Making it all the way up that killer hill to Glines without stopping. I actually did it one time without stopping when I was quite a bit younger than now and even then it did me in. 😂

would be nice if they could improve and maintain this trail

😂I have used that expression “High-tailed it” all my life and never thought of its origin. When you said it in reference to the elk, it clicked in my mind that it must come from how deer lift their tails when running! Thanks for the video.

Love the commentary, very detailed on the surroundings. Thanks Dsn.

#77 Watched it after work. As always, it was a great pleasure watching this video.

its a shame they didn't add a protected bike lane / walkway to the bridge design, one with a concrete wall separating the cars from non-cars, but at least the wide side lanes will be much appreciated. Another great video thanks!

🇩🇰 Thanks for the trip👍👌

Sad whats going on in the Olympics this winter 😭. Gonna be a brutal summer.

Another great video! Thank you Dan for informative video nature outings!

Love to see that road reopened someday.

Dan is your bike electric assist?

Nice video. That walker zig zaging the trail is the worst thing for anyone can do.

This looks like the lower dam site. There's also an upper dam site which has some ruins and remnants of the old.dam

Really enjoyed your video. I used to live in Port Townsend, (Port Angeles now), spent countless hours at Fort Worden especially on top of the hill walking and exploring every inch. Was cool to reminisce certain spots you showed like that little tunnel and the view by Battery Benson. By the way there was a major motion picture filmed there in 1981 (came out in 1982) called an Officer and a Gentleman staring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. They filmed at many locations around the fort. There are some great shots of Batteries Benson, Kinzie and Vicars as well. Should check it out if you get a chance.

Beautiful!!

This is where they filmed "The Hunted" with Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro

what lake are you passing

really enjoy your walks, after my daily re-hab walk I get home for a rest, and watch the elwha, existing this spring

Beautiful now ❤❤❤❤

Made it through and yes that was a very interesting tour. 🙂

happy to see a video showing how things are 10+ yrs after removal, wana see more like this from other rivers n creaks that have been cleaned up of man made 💩