Olympic NP - Elwah Valley

So, it was still really smokey here, so I opted to visit one of the lower canyons in the park, with hopes that the smoke would blow through by the next day and I could get good views up at Hurricane Ridge.

Elwah River was dammed in two separate areas.  It was decided to decommission and remove both dams, and let the river return to its natural state.

As you can imagine, it was quite the debated topic for many years until plans were put in place, approvals, and finally funding.   The lower dam and all its sediment were released first,  then the upper dam was removed in stages and carefully monitored as to not "choke" the stream with excessive sediment and have a negative impact  on the stable, existing environment.   For cost reasons, the upper spill way stayed in place, and only material that impeded the flow of the lake outlet was removed.  A really interesting success story and a piece of history.
Even though no salmon had been able to run the river in100 years, within the first year, there were already several species using the river for spawning.  Now there are about six species actively using the river and it's branches.  Crazy!

I also hit a few waterfall hikes just for fun, but then the tourists started to annoy me. 😁