The Olympic Discovery Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

spanning the north end of the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. The route is designated as a

multi-use trail A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is 'designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists'. Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...

and spans between

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition to ...

and La Push on the Pacific Coast. , of the trail have been developed into a complete path. The remainder of the route can be ridden using a combination of public roads.

History

The trail was the brainchild of three area cyclists who formed the Peninsula Trails Coalition (PTC) for the purpose of developing the trail across a derelict railroad grade of the

Seattle and North Coast Railroad The Seattle and North Coast Railroad (SNCT) was a short-line railroad that operated on the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State from Port Angeles to Port Townsend. The line was unique in that it was a "rail island" with no ...

. The railroad was sold fairly quickly after the formal abandonment. The coalition has been working with a number of agencies to build a contiguous trail system on or along the original rail route. The Peninsula Trails Coalition continue to bring together many jurisdictions and volunteers who maintain the trail as well as advocate for its development. The 2016 effort to reconstruct the Dungeness River Bridge after the wood trestle was destroyed in the spring of 2015, brought together over 1,400 volunteer hours, a large donation from First Federal Community Foundation to the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, which owns and operates the bridge and adjacent Railroad Bridge Park to replace the aging wood deck and other improvement tasks. Public funding to replace the washed-out trestle with a 750' steel span, improved the quality of the river as part of larger salmon recovery project in the area.

Route

Using public roads and off-street non-motorized trails, the trail is a contiguous in length. There is an optional Adventure Trail route that can be substituted for the west central section of the trail from

Elwha River The Elwha River is a river on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. From its source at Elwha snowfinger in the Olympic Mountains, it flows generally north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Most of the river's cou ...

Lake Crescent Lake Crescent is a deep lake located entirely within Olympic National Park in Clallam County, Washington, United States, approximately west of Port Angeles on U.S. Route 101 and nearby to the small community of Piedmont. At an official maxim ...

Trail status

Adventure route

The Olympic Adventure Route (OAR) has been built by Clallam County volunteers as an adjunct to the Olympic Discovery Trail. It is built for mountain bikers, hikers, and equestrians. It has 25-miles of double and single-track riding over scenic, hilly, forested terrain. One-third of this section is forest roads.

References

External links