Convulsion Canyon, Elwha River, Olympic Nat’l Park dramatic scene & events on the Elwha River

Convulsion Canyon, Elwha River
Convulsion Canyon, Elwha River

Convulsion Canyon is now an informal or ‘cultural’ name for a notable stretch or spot along the Elwha River, in the Olympic National Park.  It is immediately upstream of the popular Geyser Valley and Humes Ranch day-use areas, and is the bottom end of the Elwha’s Grand Canyon. The steel suspension cable Long Ridge Trail Bridge is strung between the cliffs at this spot, allowing the hiker to look upstream into the gorge, and downstream into the broad Valley, from perhaps 50 feet above the river. People refer to this site as Convulsion Canyon, although it appears to officially be ‘just’ the bottom end of Grand Canyon.

Convulsion Canyon, nearby upper cliffs
Convulsion Canyon, nearby upper cliffs

The cliffs on which the bridge is mounted are evidently stable and resistant, but the slopes of Long Ridge immediately upstream (and for miles) are unstable and prone to massive landslides, as visible in these photos, and as can be noted from distant viewpoints such as at the main Hurricane Ridge Lodge, its parking lot, and from points along the road on out to Hurricane Hill, and on its trail. Signs of old and new slides decorate the river side for much of the length of (well-named) Long Ridge.

Long Ridge Trail bridge, from right bank, ortho
Long Ridge Trail bridge, from right bank, ortho

In 1967, at the site in these pictures, a large slide came down and temporarily dammed the river. It was winter, the river was high and conditions were stormy. Workers at Glines Canyon Dam noticed the drop-off of flow, raised the alert (the Elwha Tribe lives on the flood-plain delta of the Elwha River (with dikes)) and initiated relief measures at the dam (and the lower dam did so as well).

Cliff face beneath Long Ridge Trail bridge, left bank
Cliff face beneath Long Ridge Trail bridge, left bank

At that time, an old-fashion piling-mounted wooden bridge crossed the Elwha just outside the Convulsion site, at the very top end of Geyser Valley. This bridge was destroyed (which required building the current bridge), but many of the pilings remained, albeit knocked akilter. Whether any piling-stumps are still present in the river-bed today, I’m not sure. It has been noticable that at times they would be buried under boulders and gravel, and other times they would emerge again. Piling-stumps submerged often resist decay for very long periods.

Geyser Valley from Long Ridge Trail bridge
Geyser Valley from Long Ridge Trail bridge

The modern usage of the term Convulsion Canyon (the Press Expedition 1889-90 of the 1890s applied the name originally, but likely intended it for the longer canyon-feature, rather than for a ‘spot’ as folks now tend to apply it) is now tied indelibly to the dramatic Long Ridge Trail Bridge that spans it. This structure dates from not long after the 1967 flood, yet shows no overt signs of decay, other than some long-present buckling & warping of longer steel handrails, which might just be from heating in the sun.

There have been moments in history when the steel suspension bridge was involved in controversy, especially over the appropriateness of such ‘high-tech’ solutions in the Olympic backcountry. However, the Park has also installed very similar bridges, very recently. Perhaps the durability of this bridge and others like it (some older?) weighed in the decision.

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