Olympic Nat’l Forest: Free Camping

Technically, it’s not free, but it’s as close as it gets.  You’ll need a Discover Pass for $35 through the state of Washington.  If you’re planning to visit any park, fishing access point, or trailhead in the state, you’ll need this pass anyway to avoid a ticket.  It’s good for one year from the month in which it’s purchased.  My pass was still valid from last year’s trip, so I’m glad I remembered to bring it.  What I didn’t know, it also gives you access to free camping throughout the Olympic Nat’l Forest if you’re willing to dry camp and pack out your trash.  Most locations have a vault toilet and fresh water. The campgrounds for the most part are in secluded, beautiful, spacious areas offering fire rings and picnic tables.

Here are two of the campgrounds I stayed at with my Discover Pass: Hoh Ox Bow Campground and Cottonwood Campground.

When Meg and I traveled throughout the Northwest last year, our plan was to visit the Olympic Forest.  However, due to the water levels and concerns over salmon returns, the entire area was basically closed to fishing. This year, most rivers were scheduled to be open including one of my favorite rivers: the Elwha. 

I lived on the east side of Seattle for five years.  During that time, my buddy from college flew up and we fished the Elwha for two days.  We caught Cutthroat and Bull Trout pretty much nonstop.  It was one of the best fishing trips of my entire life.

The Elwha has been closed for well over a decade to allow the fish populations to rebound.  During that time, they also removed two dams to help restore the natural habitat.

Map provided by: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Map-of-the-Elwha-River-watershed-location-in-inset-showing-the-dam-and-reservoir_fig1_327447517

The Elwha was finally set to reopen two days before my arrival, and I was excited to fish this river again.  It’s the main reason I made the drive from Spokane after dropping Meg off at the airport.  However, upon my arrival, I found out the reopening had been delayed with no foreseeable opening in sight; a slight change of plans were definitely in order. 

Although the Elwha was my primary destination and I had every intention of staying on this river the entire trip, I did have a backup plan: the Sol Duc and Hoh Rivers.  Both campgrounds I mentioned are on the Hoh, but the Sol Duc was in close proximity.

I camped one night on the Sol Duc.  The river was surprisingly low and the next morning I decided to concentrate my efforts on the Hoh.

The Hoh had a run of Summer Steelhead and the end run of Spring Chinook.  It’s a difficult river to fish without a drift boat, but I gave it my best shot.  I found the best access at Cottonwood Campground.  There were two ways to get to the river: drive a small jeep though the extremely narrow rough road or walk.

This is the start of the entry road and, believe me, it gets much worse.  If I dropped the camper, my truck could have made it to the river with scrape marks and possibly a dent or two.  A few ATV’s and one person with an old Toyota decided to take this road; not me. 

It’s roughly a mile roundtrip to access the river, not including the distance walking the shoreline to the most productive fishing water.  Quite frankly, I needed the exercise.  After my 6th roundtrip on mental autopilot, I started to feel good about getting in better shape all in the name of fishing.

The river was challenging to access.  There were quite a few ATV tracks and would-be paths across the exposed river rock and sand, but the majority didn’t end up at the river as they were blocked by fallen trees from the previous seasons.

Almost every tree on my side on the bank had fallen and I could only find one, fairly challenging way through the maze of trees.  Once through, the only reference to my path back to camp was this tree closer to the river than the others. 

I took a picture of the tree below because I found it unique.  Also, because it was the only tree on this side of the river still standing, and I wondered why?

The river had a certain tint to it from the glacial run-off.  Some people think glacial water is crystal clear and that’s rarely the case.  In Alaska, the run-off would be so silver-gray, you could only see a foot into the water at best.  This glacier melt had an interesting hue of turquoise that I’ve never seen before.

The best season to fish this area starts in October for the Coho and Fall Chinook.  I’m not trying to make excuses, there were Steelhead in the river.  But as with any fish species entering rivers to spawn, they tend to stack up in the bays surrounding the river mouths and enter in waves.  They’re constantly on the move in the river system until reaching their spawning grounds.  Fishing can be hit or miss on a daily or weekly basis. 

For me on this trip, it was basically a swing and a miss.  I fished the Hoh for four days and tried everything in my arsenal. 

(All Flies and Lures used were single-barbless hooks per the regulations, the pics are for reference)

Fly Fishing: Streamers/ Nymphs/ Swinging Flies… I tried it all…

Spinner Fishing:  I tried every color I had available to me…

With the exception of a few guide boats floating past, I was the only person fishing this section.  As one of the guides passed, I inquisitively gave him the ‘thumbs-up’ ‘thumbs-down’ signal.  He gave me the ‘thumbs-up’ and said they were hitting orange spinners.  I was close enough to see the lure on his client’s rod.  It was a bright orange Vibrax.  Although I didn’t have that lure on me, I had one, and only one, in the camper.

Local Tackle/ Home Field Advantage:  Most fishermen are good people.  Not all, but most.  I mentioned the guy who dared to take his older Toyota through the narrow difficult path to the river.  As I was fishing, that truck slowly drove up the river rock and headed my way.  He stopped and we talked about the river.  He’s been fishing here for over 35 years and has lived nearby for 10.  He had two fishing rods in the back of the truck.  Both rods had the same lure.  He said, ‘this is primarily what I fish with’.  He handed me one from his tackle box and said, ‘keep it’.  I politely declined knowing how much lures cost in this day and age.  He said he makes them himself and has so many he could never run out.  But that’s not the point.  It was a nice gesture and I happily accepted.  It would have been the best story ever if this was the one chance moment and lure that would land me a Steelhead or Salmon.  I did catch a nice trout on it and the design was well thought out and extremely functional.  You could cast this lure across the entire river without effort.

Spoon Fishing and Jigging:  Luhr-Jensen Krocodile Spoon:  I’ve caught more quality large fish on this lure than any other including two 12lb Brown Trout. 

Deep Drift Back-Bouncing:  In the Northwest, some of the fishing holes are extremely deep.  Most of the fish are toward the bottom to minimize their effort while avoiding the strong current.  If you’re not near the bottom, typically you’re not going to catch fish.  With this technique, most people are using bait: either roe or sand shrimp.  However, bait was not allowed, so I opted for beads and fake salmon eggs.

Here’s the typical rig:

Yakimabait.com

Casting Float Drift Fishing:  With this technique, you can cover at least 50 yards if not more with conventional reels.  I use float/ drift fishing whenever in unfamiliar water to help pinpoint concentrations of fish.  Most of the time, I use flies rather than bait.

Here’s the basic concept:

Image: in-fisherman.com

Although I did catch a couple of trout and lost a small Jack Salmon, I chose not to post those photos.  It’s not really a fair fight when you catch smaller fish on a rod designed for Steelhead and Salmon.

After all my effort, here is my only fishing picture I am willing to post.  A monster I know.  But I couldn’t be more impressed with its enthusiasm and optimism. 

With that said…time to move on…