Fall on the Elwha

My last trip into the Olympics for 2025 was full of fall color. This time of year is beautiful on the Olympic Peninsula if you’re willing to get rained on a little (or a lot). We were incredibly lucky to get a break in the weather before a massive rain system blew in over the Pacific Northwest.

We started day 1 in Port Angeles gathering some last minute supplies to keep us warm: kindling and a bottle of Wild Turkey 101. The sun goes down early this time of year - before 5:00pm - and we knew we’d have plenty of time in the cool fall temperatures at camp after the sun went down. A good fire and some good whiskey should keep us plenty warm.

Weather the first day was overcast but plenty comfortable and no rain. We made it to our favorite campsite on the Elwha around 3:30 and set up camp and began gathering firewood. With all of the rain that the peninsula has been getting, we knew it’d be a challenge to find dry enough wood to start a fire. We’ve camped at this spot before and knew where to find wood that was up off the ground and exposed to the sun and went straight to work gathering wood for the night. The skies cleared up just before sunset and we had a beautiful, dry evening by the fire the first night.

We woke up day 2 to bluebird skies and the morning sun warming our faces as we made coffee. We ate breakfast and made a plan to day hike to the Grand Canyon of the Elwha that afternoon. The further we hiked upriver, the yellower things got.

Clouds began to roll in around 3:00pm day 2 and we decided it was time for another firewood haul. With the rain surely coming, we pitched a tarp next to the fire ring and gathered as much wood as we could.

We woke up the last day to saturated tents and a high river and knew it was going to be a soggy hike out through the rain. It didn’t matter, November in the Olympics is beautiful and our wet feet seemed a fair price to pay for what we got to experience while we were out. It was a perfect farewell to the Olympics until next year.