Talk:Queets River

Wikify me!
This article reads a heck of a lot more like a tourist guide than an encyclopedia. It needs sections, and should have info on the course of the river, it's ecology, and geology. Murderbike (talk) 23:32, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Yep. I've just made a quick stab at improving it. I added sections, but it could still use more content on the course. The geology I don't know much about, but I've read interesting things about its ecology and hydrology... like things to do with its high winter flood surges and log jams. Apparently its log jams are studied to learn about how many rivers in the region, especially the Puget Sound region, historically behaved, before forest clearing and river channelization, etc. I don't have time to look up this stuff now, I'll try later. I removed some of the recreational details, like those having to do with trail and campground access, "news" now more than two years old. I also removed the claim that the river's discharge "occasionally exceeds that of the Columbia". The max discharge according to the USGS was 91,100 cfs. The Columbia's average discharge is 265,000 cfs. I also removed the claim that the Queets River is mentioned in the Treaty of Olympia. The treaty text is online here and elsewhere, and I see no mention of the Queets. Pfly (talk) 06:11, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Several suggestions
(Suggestions made by Ski mohawk, broken out into paragraphs below. My replies inserted. Pfly (talk) 04:47, 7 September 2010 (UTC))

re: Geology of the Queets River Valley: see "Guide to the Geology of Olympic National Park" © 1975 Rowland W. Tabor ( UW Press ).

re: Origin of name "Queets": see "Gods & Goblins - A Field Guide to Place Names in Olympic National Park" © 1984 Smitty Parratt ( CL Publications, Port Angeles, Wa. ) ( Considered the definitive source by ONP [ pers. comm. ONP ] ) - Actually the name comes from "ka WEE utz" or "people of the dirt of the skin" or "people made of earth/dirt/mud".
 * I added this info and took out the Phillips cite. Will check out the book once the library opens again (closed for a couple weeks due to budget shortfalls, alas).

re: log jams, stream morphology: see papers by Robert Naiman and Tim Abbe, UW Fisheries

re: maximum discharge: your numbers are in error. it went up to 118,000 cfs just last winter ( 2007 ) during a major wind/rain storm. Peak flows exceeding 100,000 cfs are not uncommon during winter storms during November-December-January. The Queets is considered by some to be the most dynamic river ( in terms of stream flow fluctuation ) on the Olympic Peninsula, if not the entire state of Washington. ( pers. comm. ONP fisheries )
 * I brought the discharge info up to date (water year 2009 anyway). The max discharge had been given as 91,100 cfs, which is apparently still the "max daily mean". The USGS gage says the max peak discharge was 133,000 cfs, in 1999. So I put that into the infobox and also added a paragraph about the discharge stats and the USGS gage (location, etc). I tend to use the "max daily mean" instead of "max peak" because max peak flows can be wildly high--perhaps misleadingly so, at least for some rivers. But in this case it makes sense to use max peak as well--the Queets being known for its sudden surges. Also the numbers are not "wildly different".

re: recreation facilities/access: recreational access has changed dramatically during the last two years because of a road washout that occured in early 2005. the access road was re-routed. there are no shelters or other structures currently extant along the length of the trail, which is for the most part washed away at its upper end, per most recent oral reports.

re: river "course": the Queets starts up at the Queets glacier, and is also fed by the Humes and Jeffers glaciers below Olympus. it flows through a narrow canyon to just below Paull Creek, where the valley opens up a bit, flows westerly to just below Kilkelly Creek, then south to just below Alta Creek, where the valley opens up into the typical "U-shaped" glacial river valley common in Western Washington, and then west and south to the Pacific. Major tributaries along the length of the river are Tshletshy Creek, Sams River, Matheny Creek, and the Salmon River. There are many other smaller tributaries as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ski mohawk (talk • contribs) 17:53, 1 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I added most of this course info to the page just now. The only bit that didn't seem right was that the Queets River starts at Queets Glacier. The USGS's National Hydrology Dataset (NHD), GIS data, shows Queets River's main stem headwater reaching from Queets Basin east to the area just north of Dodwell-Rixon Pass, between Mount Barnes to the south and, on the north, the high ridge extending east from Humes Glacier to the vicinity of Bear Pass. Looking at topo maps, this seems to be the longest headwater stream, at least. So there's some sense in calling it the "main stem" Queets. USGS topo maps also show the name "Queets River" extending beyond the streams flowing down from Queets Glacier. The topo maps suggest that the main stem Queets comes from either headwaters at Humes Glacier or Mount Barnes. It's possible that different sources use different names for these headwater streams. I don't have a definitive answer--just that the sources I have suggest that the river's source is not Queets Glacier.

Article is still in error regarding of origin of name "Queets". The cited source is in error. Smitty Parratt is correct. Check with Olympic National Park Cultural Resources Division.
 * Yes, fixed.

The washout photo is old news- the road has been re-routed as of 2008. Suggest removal of the washout photo as it really doesn't contribute much in the way of providing information on "Queets River". Ski —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ski mohawk (talk • contribs) 11:22, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I edited the photo caption to mention the road rerouting, not feeling up to deleting it outright, but feel free to. I'm not very familiar with the road or recreational stuff (trails, camp, fords, etc etc). Hope to explore the region someday though. Pfly (talk) 04:47, 7 September 2010 (UTC)