Elwha River Trail is the northern half of the main north-south thoroughfare down the middle of the Olympic National Park. It’s 27.7 miles long, begining at the Whiskey Bend Trailhead and ending at the junction with the North Fork Quinault River Trail. With the southern North Fork trail, the Elwha forms the main north-south through-route in the Park
Sites along the Elwha include Camp Lillian at 4.6 miles; Mary’s Falls Camp 8.8; Camp Baltimore 9.0; Canyon Camp 10.4; Elkhorn Camp 11.5; Remman Cabin 12.5. Tipperary, Chateau, Hayes River, Wilder, Chicago and Happy Hollow.
This trail makes interior through-connections via Hayes River Trail at 17 miles, and more commonly via Low Divide about 26 miles up.
The Elwha Trail and Whiskey Bend trailhead see by far the most of their usage, for just day-hiking into the nearby Humes Ranch and Geyser Valley area. This is a nice comfortable valley set in the otherwise rugged terrain the river flows through. It attracted homesteaders and woodsmen (and investors) before the land became Park, and they created multiple short trails in the vicinity.
Beyond the often busy day-use area, the trail tends to its business of covering ground and getting somewhere. It is mildly rugged, bouncing up & down a little while crossing side-canyons and veering upland to dodge untenable situations along the river. But it doesn’t tackle any significant ridges or mountains.
Within the first couple miles are 3 side-trails going downhill into the Geyser and Humes network of paths,
When web-searching with an exact phrase, it is sometimes ‘elwha trail’, especially in older sources, and by some who know the country best. Locals with long-time familiarity tend to shorten names, but it is helpful to new visitors, to use full & complete names. The Park these days uses the more verbose form for this & other trails … but historically there has been some variation.