Hiking Elwha Dam Site (Upper Overlook Trail) with Friends!

For nearly a century, two dams on the Elwha River generated hydroelectric power for Port Angeles and its industry. They were built without fish passage, which blocked salmon and steelhead from reaching roughly 70 miles of upstream habitat — a decision that affected the fisheries the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe had long relied on. The dams were removed beginning in 2011, in what remains one of the largest dam removal projects undertaken in the U.S. Today, the trail to the old dam sites is a genuinely beautiful hike — through an abandoned "ghost town" ranger station and out to a dramatic canyon overlook — and a walk through a real piece of Peninsula history. Here's what I learned exploring it.

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