GRIFF CREEK TRAIL

Length 2.8 mi/4.5 km 
Access Elwha River Road 
USGS Map Elwha Agency Olympic National Park

Hikers should park their cars at the Elwha Ranger Station (390 ft/119 m), and 
then go to the trailhead in the rear. They should carry water; it is not available 
on this route, which starts near Griff Creek, then switchbacks up a spur of the 
Elwha River Range. The creek was named for a pioneer family that homesteaded the 
site now occupied by the ranger station. The family name was Griffin, which somehow 
became shortened with reference to the creek.

After crossing the river flats, the trail makes a grueling, unrelenting climb, 
gaining almost 3000 feet, via thirty-five switchbacks, in less than 3 miles. The 
route switchbacks through old-growth forests, where the ground is covered with moss, 
Oregon grape, and sword ferns. Here and there madronas enliven the scene. As the 
trail climbs higher, the trees become much smaller, and the undergrowth remains 
sparse but now include* ocean spray.

Gradually the country becomes more open, with a number of rock outcrops. Manzanita 
flourishes here, and madronas covered with lichen stand alongside. The vista up 
Griff Creek reveals a narrow, V-shaped canyon. Beyond the twenty-first switchback, 
a side trail leads left to a rounded knoll decorated with mosses and lichen. Here 
the hiker can see the river below, look out across the Elwha Valley, and gaze up 
Hughes Creek, as well as observe take Mills in the distance. The promontory also 
provides a vista of forested mountains up Griff Creek.

The grade now eases as the route traverses to a mossy rock that rises perhaps 100 
feet above the trail. The path follows a ledge around it, and then goes alongside 
another monolith. Again madronas are present because the trees have an affinity on 
this, the drier side of the mountains, for rock outcropping.

Circling around the rocks, the trail goes back into the dense timber, and then 
deteriorates (2.0 mi/3.2 km). Many windfalls bar the way, and the path is stony 
and in generally poor condition. Beyond fire-scarred firs on a rocky slope, the 
trail climbs via a series of short, steep switchbacks as it skirts beneath pillow 
basalt. The path then crosses over the ridge to the south side, where it terminates 
abruptly among cliffs and pinnacles (2.8 mi/4.5 km: 3300 ft/1006 m). Here one has 
a view of the valley of Griff Creek. Ahead, to the southeast, rise two peaks of 
the Elwha River Range. The sharp rock horn is Unicorn Peak (5100 ft/1555 m); to 
its right stands Griff Peak (5120 ft/1561 m).