Our (my husband Ernie and I) story is one of delightful serendipity. We had a little extra daylight time our first afternoon in the park, after having visited Hurricane Ridge, and the Ranger had suggested we visit the Elwha River Dams restoration project. It was close to Port Angeles where we were staying, and so we decided to make an impromptu visit.
We found our way easily, parked, and hiked the short distance in, on a still-under-construction trail, to the viewing site for the dismantling of the lower dam. (This project is basically complete now, except for what nature will continue to do over time, but it was in its early stages in the fall of 2012 when we were there.) It was fascinating to watch the water pouring, controlled but still a huge gusher of it, out of one side of the dam for the lower lake, and flowing on on down into the river bed and out to sea. I loved, during this writing, finding this link to review the current history of the project: http://www.nps.gov/olym/naturescience/restorationoftheelwha.htm
We returned to the parking area only to find that a huge bus blocked our way out. There was a crowd of folks standing around, so I asked who they were. “The board of the NPCA,” I was told. They were waiting for something, it seemed, and then all of a sudden there were people talking about this site, giving wonderful explanations of the history of the Elwha River and estuary restoration project, and we were happy to be delayed in our departure while learning a lot.
One speaker was the Olympic Park Head Ranger (A woman! In a snappy flat-brimmed ranger’s hat); another was a tall friendly man with a mustache. When the group broke up to hike out to the viewing platform, that man came up and asked where we were from. We introduced ourselves, as did he. Turns out, he was Jon Jarvis, the director of the entire National Park Service! The whole of this afternoon, plus the rest of our so-memorable trip to the Olympic Peninsula, left us glad that we now had a more personal connection, not only to the beauty of the park itself, but also to the NPCA and the NPS.
Sincerely,
Olympic National Park
Exploring Olympic’s dynamic landscape is like visiting three parks in one. The high mountains offer snow, glaciers, wilderness and — if you time it right — acres of wildflowers. The lush, verdant Hoh Rainforest is unlike anything else in the Lower 48, and home to Roosevelt elk, black bears and other charismatic wildlife. And the park’s stunning coast offers some of the country's wildest and most spectacular beaches, dotted with tide pools and sea stacks. Visitors can now see where park staff recently removed two large dams, letting the Elwha River flow freely again for the first time in more than 100 years.
State(s): Washington
Established: 1938
“I have loved national parks all my life, but somehow had never known about the NPCA until our chance encounter with its board and Jon Jarvis, in the parking lot for the Elwha River Restoration project viewing platform. This lovely coincidence gave Ernie and me a chance to feel more connected to the work of maintaining our parks, and we are glad that now we can support, in a modest way, the effort to keep them strong as the irreplaceable natural resources they are.”
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Greetings from Olympic National Park
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Greetings from Olympic National Park
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