Elwha Snow Finger is an important and rather unusual route-feature that greatly facilitates traveling between the Olympic Mountains core high-country terrain, and the adjoining lowlands (and official trail system). It is a 2 mile long linear canyon, with a narrow perennial snowfield filling the bottom. It is very easy to walk on.
At the far south end of the standard Traverse, the standard take-out is via . Many people over many decades have strolled down the narrow, linear, snow-packed gorge. But the creek-sized Elwha River has a large cavern underneath, and at the opening a gentle blast of chill air blows out … all of it was warm summer air drawn in and passing its calories to the perennial snow-mass. Reports of accidents on the Snow Finger are not common, but it doesn’t take an in-depth study of this exceptionally handy little snow-highway, to get the uncomfortable feeling that maybe we’ve been lucky.
To not use the Snow Finger would mean added work & time, but it need not be a lot, nor unrewarding in itself. There are two categories of options, one to stay low & close, and the other to hold high and away from the Elwha-channel. Staying low, one must not get too far down-slope, without getting back from extremely rough conditions along the stream-channel. Staying high is attractive, but eventually requires losing elevation faster. Concern with rotten snow is less near the top, beginning at Dodwell-Rixon Pass, and becomes greater further downstream.
A meaningful upside to abandoning the Snow Finger, will be cutting out the crossings of the small but very steep Elwha River. Although shallow, the water is fast and can be shockingly powerful. This seeming-piddling stream can be the diciest part of the whole Traverse, and not-using the Snow Finger can eliminate it. Again, the caveat is chutes and rough-spots on the lower and mid slopes of the ridge between Mount Barnes and Mount Wilder, the ridge that is the feasible ground. It looks good at the high elevations, but will require route-picking to avoid issues down-slope. These lower slopes are on good display from the Elwha Basin, and along the path that arches up through it & back down to the base of the Snow Finger (which is the standard way to avoid the cliffs & chasms adjoining the Elwha erosion-channel). The Basin gains considerable elevation, beyond & above the path, with few obstructions of the view of the Barnes-Wilder face across the river.
This Barnes-Wilder Ridge was ascended from the far Goldie River side in 1889-90, by the Press Expedition, and they then descended the Elwha-side of it to a point near where we would today, to rejoin the Elwha River Trail. The Press group was doing the same thing that one would, staying on the high ground above the Snow Finger.
