The Quillayute River (also spelled Quileute River) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

situated on 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 ...

. It empties to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

La Push, Washington La Push is a small unincorporated community situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in Clallam County, Washington, United States. La Push is the largest community within the Quileute Indian Reservation, which is home to the federally recogni ...

. The Quillayute River is formed by the confluence of the

Bogachiel River The Bogachiel River () is a river of the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It originates near Bogachiel Peak, flows west through the mountains of Olympic National Park. After emerging from the park it joins the ...

, Calawah River and the

Sol Duc River The Sol Duc River (also spelled Soleduck) is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, it flows west through the northwest part of the Olympic Peninsula, from the Olympic Mountains of Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest, ...

. The

Dickey River The Dickey River is a stream on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It has three main forks, the East Fork, West Fork, and Middle Fork Dickey Rivers. The main stem is formed by the confluence of the East and West Forks. The rive ...

joins the Quillayute just above the river's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. Although the Quillayute is one of the main rivers on the Olympic Peninsula and has a large

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

, due to an unusual naming arrangement it is officially very short, being only about long. At the confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel rivers the use of the Quillayute name ends, although the river continues far into the interior. The name "Quillayute" comes from the

Quileute The Quileute , are a Native American people in western Washington state in the United States, currently numbering approximately 2,000. They are a federally recognized tribe: the ''Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation''. The Quileute peop ...

people. In the

Quileute language Quileute , sometimes alternatively anglicized as Quillayute , is an extinct language, and was the last Chimakuan language, spoken natively until the end of the 20th century by Quileute and Makah elders on the western coast of the Olympic penins ...

the name is /kʷoʔlíːyot'/, which perhaps derived from /kʷolíː/ ("wolves"), and was the name of a village at

La Push La Push is a small unincorporated area, unincorporated community situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in Clallam County, Washington, Clallam County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. La Push is the largest community within th ...

. The Quillayute River is the current, traditional, and ancestral center of the territory of the Quileute Native Tribe, which before European settlement occupied the entire drainage basin (plus that of the

Hoh River The Hoh River is a river of the Pacific Northwest, located on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. About long, the Hoh River originates at the Hoh Glacier on Mount Olympus and flows west through the Olympic Mountains of Olymp ...

). Presently the natives live at the town of

on their small treaty reservation which adjoins the south shore of the river at the mouth. The final at the mouth of the Quillayute pass through the narrow coastal strip of the

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...

. Park roads lead to the Mora and

Rialto Beach Rialto Beach is a public beach located on the Pacific Ocean in Washington state. It is adjacent to Mora Campground in the Olympic National Park near the mouth of the Quillayute River, and is composed of an ocean beach and coastal forest. The many ...

recreation area on the north side of the Quillayute. There are camping and picnicking facilities, public parking, and trailhead access to the coastal wilderness strip north of the river.

References

Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Clallam County, Washington {{Washington-river-stub

See also

References