Rica Canyon is cut by the Elwha River through an elevated bedrock formation between the southwest base of Hurricane Hill on the river’s right bank, and east flank of Mount Fitzhenry on the left bank. It is incised mainly through sandstone and shale. It is crowded hard up against the steep convex base of Hurricane (which can be examined at Elk Overlook), and set away from Fitzhenry where its mild concave skirt meets its neighbor. The raw, vertical portions of the canyon walls are 100 to 200 feet high, with very steep approaches extending up to several hundred feet highter (especially on the Hurricane side).
The canyon begins abruptly at the bottom end of Geyser Valley, where the river dramatically enters a sheer slot in the wall called Goblins Gate. It emerges at the toe of the main northeast ridgeline of Fitz, where Cat Creek joins the Elwha in its own high-relief, high-erosion vee-canyon. This confluence is also the upper end of the former Lake Mills, and of the valley that was submerged, and which is now revegatating.
Rica is quite similar in various respects to Glines Canyon, which is cut into the interface between the northwest base of Hurricane Hill (again) and the eastern concave base of Happy Lake Ridge. The upper end of Glines is where the upper of the two dams were removed from the Elwha. The bottom end of Glines is crossed by the main Olympic Hot Springs Road on the bridge at Altair Campground. The upstream end of Glines, where the dam was, has road-access on both sides. Glines is easier to get peeks of & gingerly explore, but hiking to boh the entry & exit of Rica are by no means arduous undertakings.
Goblins Gate, the entry to Rica Canyon, is only an easy 1.5 miles, via Rica Canyon Trail, and the bottom end is accessible using the 0.4 mile Upper Lake Mills Trail, both of which negotiate a few hundred feet of elevation.
Crossing the river at the Rica Canyon exit, which is a 15 minute stroll on Upper Lake Mills Trail, would give direct access to the ancient & modern route up Mt Fitzhenry (which has no trails). The pronounced N-NE ridgeline off Fitz, the shoulders of which form the left Canyon walls, terminates exactly at the canyon-bottom. The only devil – but he’s a biggie – is that part about crossing the measely 50 feet of river.
Today, with the Long Ridge Trail Bridge at the top end of Geyser Valley, the normal off trail route is up to the bridge, bushwack back down the far river-bottom to Anderson Ranch, ascend the uplands behind the ranch, and proceed down-river above the left (west) bank of Rica Canyon to the ascent-ridgeline.
There is a pair of small streams off Fitzhenry that the topo map shows cutting substantial draws into the left, west bank of Rica Canyon. I have not investigated these yet, but it is possible they could be routes down into the Canyon and even to the river, or might provide views after partial descents. These draws are easily avoided by holding back from the canyon, but still on mild lower flank of Fitz.