Elk Creek Conservation Area

This interpretive trail outside of Forks is in a property purchased from the Rayonier Forest Resources Timber Company in 2004 and donated to the North Olympic Land Trust in 2009. Now part of the land trust's larger work, it's a great trail for a midday walk or a leg stretch during a long drive.

From the start, you descends into mossy forest along Elk Creek, which can get quite full during the spring runoff season. You'll hike along riparian forest, which here looks similar to an old-growth temperate rainforest thanks to the amount of rain this part of Washington gets. Near the creek there are two massive old trees called "The Sisters"; worth a stop and a few minutes of contemplation.

The way used to continue on past the creek, but currently the bridge is out, making the round trip about 2.5 miles. The creek, a tributary of the Calawah River, provides wild coho, steelhead, cutthroat trout and chinook salmon! The trail used to be a logging road, but volunteers and folks with the Land Trust transformed it into a lovely, quiet path through the woods