The Pysht River rises near Ellis Mountain on the Olympic Peninsula and flows 16 miles (26 km) northeast, draining a 29,632-acre (11,992 ha) watershed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Pillar Point, roughly 31 miles (50 km) west-northwest of Port Angeles and 26 miles (42 km) southeast of Neah Bay, Washington. The small community of Pysht lies 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the river mouth. Its name, like that of the village, comes either from the Coast Salish “pəšc’t” (against the wind or current) or the Chinook jargon ‘pish’ or ‘pysht’ (meaning fish). Two tributaries, Reed and Indian Creeks, join near the mouth, forming a tidally influenced estuary south of Pillar Point and north of Pillar Point County Park. Captain Henry Kellet named Pillar Point in 1847; its summit rises to 740 feet (226 m). The northern Olympic Peninsula’s core rocks form part of the Crescent terrane—basalt of the Crescent Formation overlain by marine sedimentary rocks of the Pysht and Clallam Formations. The Crescent Formation is an Early Eocene seamount chain accreted when an ancient oceanic plate subducted beneath North America. The Clallam Formation comprises shallow-water sediments deposited from the Late Eocene to Early Miocene and is exposed along the Strait between Slip and Pillar Points. It consists of poorly sorted sandstone, conglomerate and minor silty sandstone with two coal seams once mined. The Juan de Fuca Trough was scoured by continental ice from the Georgia Strait, aided by piedmont ice from the Olympic Mountains and Vancouver Island’s Coast Range during the Fraser and earlier glaciations. Alluvial sediments fill the Pysht valley and estuary. The Pillar Point headland disrupts the longshore current, depositing sediment as a submerged sand bar that fuels longshore drift to form an above-water spit from eroding sea cliffs and river deposits. 

Archaeological evidence suggests that as the glaciers receded, people moved into the Olympic Peninsula high country, drawn by new vegetation, increased game, and expanded hunting opportunities. Stone tool remains have been found in the Olympic Mountains and foothills, and hearth sites dating from 8,000 to 4,000 years ago have been uncovered near mountain lakes, ridgelines, marshes, and meadows. Before European contact, the Klallam inhabited the northern Olympic Peninsula from the Hoko River to present-day Port Discovery. They established coastal villages and seasonal inland settlements. The Lower Elwha Klallam occupied the village of Tse-whit-zen near Port Angeles for more than 2,700 years—from about 750 BC until its abandonment in the 1930s. European exploration of the Pacific Northwest began with Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and James Cook in 1778, followed by maritime fur traders in the 1780s. Early explorers did not enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca or contact the Klallam. In 1787, Charles W. Barkley became the first European known to have entered the strait, and Robert Gray reached Clallam Bay in 1789. Between 1790 and 1792, Spanish forces from Nootka Sound launched several expeditions into the strait. Manuel Quimper reached Port Discovery in 1790, and Francisco de Eliza led a fleet based there in 1791. The first contact with the Klallam likely occurred before 1789—probably at Clallam Bay or Port Discovery—and involved exchanges of knives, buttons, and copper. In the early 1880s, homesteaders claimed land along the fertile Pysht River deltas, where stands of Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar thrived. In 1886, logging company Merrill & Ring acquired land rights at Pysht. World War I drove demand for spruce to build airplanes, and logging boomed into the 1920s, when the Klallam village of Pysht was demolished to build a lumber mill and housing. The river mouth became an industrial port for the timber-cutting industry, with logging, lumbering, and rail facilities to a log dump in the estuary. Today, nearly the entire watershed is repeatedly logged, with most trees less than 30 years old.

The Pysht River supports nine freshwater fish species, including five salmonids—Chinook, coho, chum salmon, sea-run coastal cutthroat trout, and steelhead. Once renowned for robust salmon runs, all have declined because of habitat degradation. The river and floodplain have been altered by road and railroad construction, erosion protection, channel relocation, logging, in-channel wood removal, dredging, homesteading, agricultural development, wetland filling, and rural development. The channel was modified to facilitate log transport along the lower river and estuary, while routine dredging deposited spoils into tidal wetlands for agricultural use. In 2009, the North Olympic Land Trust launched a plan to conserve the lower 10 miles (16 km) of the river as intact habitat for native fish and wildlife. Two properties acquired as the Pysht River Conservation Area lie about 9 miles (15 km) from the river mouth, protecting 74 acres (30 ha) that include 0.75 miles (1.2 km) of the river, 0.3 miles (0.5 km) of Green Creek, and four wetlands. The Makah Tribe led restoration efforts by removing dilapidated structures, eradicating invasive vegetation, and replanting over 7,000 native trees with assistance from the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Further work in partnership with the Clallam Conservation District and Merrill & Ring added another 4,700 native trees and shrubs. In 2016, the Pysht River Restoration Support Project began a long-term effort to improve salmon habitat by constructing 35 engineered logjams, installing 350 feet (107 m) of floodplain fencing, and undertaking riparian re-vegetation. Monitoring shows these projects have successfully restored channel and riparian features favored by salmon for spawning and rearing. Read more here and here. Explore more of the Pysht River and Pillar Point here: