Mount Fitzhenry, Olympic Nat’l Park Elwha River and northern Bailey Range

Lake Mills and Mt. Fitzhenry
Lake Mills and Mt. Fitzhenry

Mount Fitzhenry (5,948′) is mostly noted & known (such as it is), as the modest but picturesque peak poised at the head of now-drained Lake Mills, on the Elwha River in the Olympic National Park.   The summit is about 6 miles away, by the crow; the base only half of that.  It is part of the watersheds of Cat Creek, Long Creek, Fairchild Creek and the Elwha.   There are no official trails for it.

Mt. Fitzhenry in color, from East Basin
Mt. Fitzhenry in color, from East Basin

Olympic Hot Springs Road, though, still skirts the bedrock buttress that supported the now-demolished Glines Canyon Dam and Fitzhenry is still framed from the ‘promenade’ roadside in the up-stream view to the south … just no longer reflected in the Lake.  It appears the old boat launch, parking and small camping area that served the Lake at the dam, will now be rennovated and made a low-footprint visitor-site … ensuring that Fitzhenry will continue to pose for cameras.

Olympic mountains from Hurricane Ridge
Olympic mountains from Hurricane Ridge

Along the extended subalpineHurricane Ridge Recreation Area (with excellent roads & facilities), there are unobstructed northeast foreground views through a small but useful range of angles directly across the Elwha valley, at a distance of 6-7 miles .   Undramatic Fitzhenry is decidedly out-competed in this scene by grander terrain, but its northeastern quarter is perfectly visible.  The easy trail (an abandoned roadbed) out & up to Hurricane Hill gives a few hundred feet more elevation, gets a little closer, and significantly refines the NE view-angle.

east Mt. Fizthenry from top; Lake and East Basin
east Mt. Fizthenry from top; Lake and East Basin

From Hurricane Ridge, the southeast-trending Obstruction Point Road also looks back at Fitzhenry for miles.  As the new foreground-elements enter the frame, photographic composition-values can improve.  Farther out on this road, Mount Appleton (6,000′) approaches Fitzhenry, about 6 miles to its northwest.

On Mt Fitzhenry; Lake Mills, Elwha River north
On Mt Fitzhenry; Lake Mills, Elwha River north

Mt. Fitzhenry is a not-quite 6,000′ forested walk-up that involves no mountain climbing or even scrambling.  It is of no interest to climbers, itself, but does provide access to Mount Fairchild and Mount Carrie (6,995′), prominent northern peaks along the Bailey Range of the Olympic Mountains.

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