Parking
The Smoky Bottom Trailhead lot is just beyond Glines Canyon Spillway Overlook. Parking capacity and fee details were not found.
Overview
About Smokey Bottom Trail
Why go
- A close look at the Elwha dam-removal landscape on a relatively short named trail.
Heads up
- The unnamed endpoint and nearby West Lake Mills paths can make route identity confusing.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Olympic map
Full mapElevation483–621 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
6 active Olympic alerts
- CautionUS 101 Hoh River Bridge reduced to one laneUS 101 at the Hoh River Bridge is restricted to one lane of alternating traffic; obey the signals and 25 mph speed limit.Official details
- ClosureStaircase wilderness trails and campsites remain closedWilderness trails and campsites around Staircase remain closed during recovery from the Bear Gulch Fire; the developed Staircase area, including the Rapids Loop, campground, and ranger station, is…Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Olympic Tour Guide
Your drive to Smokey Bottom Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Olympic National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Olympic audio tourMore stories near here in the app
- Madison Falls: A Short Walk in the Elwha
- How a Salmon Handles Salt
- Hurricane Hill: Summit or Picnic
- The Sapsucker’s Sap Wells
- 204 audio storiesacross Olympic’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Olympic Marmot, Humpback Whale, Grey Whale, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 148 trails, 94 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Smokey Bottom Trail
A walk into the former reservoirSmokey Bottom Trail is a 1.
Smokey Bottom Trail is a 1.9-mile one-way natural-surface walk from the lot just beyond Glines Canyon Spillway Overlook into the valley above the former Glines Canyon Dam. Retrace the same path for 3.8 miles round trip from that trailhead. Allow about 2.5 hours for the named trail. The appeal is seeing the Elwha's exposed former lakebed and riverbanks returning to a wilder state, not reaching a summit or waterfall.
A landscape in recoveryLake Mills formed behind Glines Canyon Dam.
Lake Mills formed behind Glines Canyon Dam. A 1992 restoration law set the watershed recovery in motion, and removal of both Elwha dams was complete by 2014. With the reservoir gone, the river runs through exposed sediment while natural growth and planted vegetation recolonize the banks. Salmon began spawning in the park within months of dam removal, part of the larger recovery this short walk lets you understand.
Keep to the named routeThe mapped Smokey Bottom line ends in the former reservoir landscape, but the official…
The mapped Smokey Bottom line ends in the former reservoir landscape, but the official descriptions do not give that point a named destination. Nearby Old West Lake Mills and lower Lake Bed paths appear in longer West Lake Mills itineraries; those routes combine other segments and do not change Smokey Bottom's 1.9-mile one-way distance. Treat this as an out-and-back and do not assume the neighboring paths form a loop. Pets are not permitted on this trail.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Olympic
710 sightingsOlympic MarmotMost seen around 11 AMSighting map
30 sightingsHumpback WhaleMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
42 sightingsGrey WhaleMost seen around noonSighting map
23 sightingsMountain LionMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
71 sightingsMountain GoatMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
306 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 11 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Olympic. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
