WOLF CREEK TRAIL

Length 8.0 mi/12.9 km 
Access Whiskey Bend Road 
USGS Map Hurricane Hill
Agency Olympic National Park

This trail, which roughly parallels Wolf Creek, follows part of the 
old road that led from the Elwha River to Hurricane Ridge. Beginning 
at Whiskey Bend (1198 ft/365 m) it climbs Salal Ridge to Hurricane 
Ridge (8.0 mi/12.9 km; 4970 ft/1515 m)-coming to a junction with the 
Hurricane Ridge Road (see North Slope chapter for description) at a 
point west of the lodge. Before the road was built, the Salal Ridge 
Trail, dating back to the early 1900's, connected Whiskey Bend with 
Hurricane Ridge.

The lower part of this trail is an excellent route to walk almost 
any time, but the upper section is likely to be snowbound from November 
to June. During cold weather, when the snow line is low, skiers 
sometimes use the trail for touring because it provides a long downhill 
run from Hurricane Ridge.

This section of the old road was closed to automobile traffic in the 
late 1950's with the completion of the new Hurricane Ridge Road. Since 
then nature has slowly reclaimed the right of way, and little conifers 
now grow thickly in the old roadbed for several miles above Whiskey 
Bend. Higher up, however, where the climate is harsher and the soil is 
stony, the seedlings are fewer in number, the land having been much 
slower to recover.

The first few miles of this trail are in the deep forest primarily 
stands of Douglas fir, but as the route gains altitude-climbing steeply 
with many switchbacks- the country becomes more open and the views 
better and better. They include the peaks of the Bailey Range across 
the Elwha. When the trail attains the ridge, one has an excellent 
panorama of the interior Olympics and the Elwha Valley.