The Calawah River is a 31 mi (49.9 km) tributary of the Bogachiel River

Bogachiel River

The Bogachiel River is a river of the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It originates near Bogachiel Peak, flows west through the mountains of Olympic National Park...

 in Clallam County in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Washington, on its Olympic Peninsula

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...

. Its two major tributaries are the South and North Forks Calawah River. The river drains an unpopulated portion of the low foothills of the Olympic Mountains

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains is a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high - Mount Olympus is the highest at - but the western slopes of the Olympics rise directly out of the Pacific...

; its entire watershed consists of virgin forest. The river drains 129 mi2 above U.S. Highway 101, which crosses the river about 6.6 miles (10.6 km) upstream of its mouth.

The river's name comes from the Quileute word qàló?wa:, meaning "in between", or "middle river".

Works cited

• Landes, Henry (1917). Bulletin. Washington Geological Survey.
• Wood, Robert (2000). Olympic Mountains Trail Guide: National Park and National Forest. The Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-618-9.