Stats
- Distance: 7-3/4 miles
- Duration: 3-1/4 hours
- Vertical: 530 ft
- Weather: Sunshine, no wind, ~32F in shade but warmer in sun
- Takeaway: Huge old growth trees, incredible moss, waterfalls, mountain and river views, wildlife and the contrast of snow in a rainforest - what is not to love? Beautiful day :) On a sunny day, this is kind of a larch-like hike this time of year with a bright lime green-yellow glow in the forest.
The 18-mile access road from Hwy 101 had areas of snow and ice; first time I have really felt the ice in my Subaru this year. There is probably some freezing fog action on this road with the river proximity. But by the time we left, the day had warmed and the road was definitely less icy. The Park entrace was manned; pass or a daily fee (credit cards accepted). Everyone was smiling for the sunny day and really stoked to be out.
The road ends at the Hoh River Trailhead. The parking lot is large (at least as a winter destination!) and we were surprised to see about 10 other cars. But most other folks were doing the "moss" and "spruce" loops near the visitor center, and we only saw a handful of folks on the Hoh River Trail itself.
The trail has compact snow from the beginning, but is never hard to follow. There are clearer areas of trail under large trees and such, but I would say the trail is about 90% covered. Traction was good, and the trail is pretty mellow with a gentle incline, so we did not use our microspikes. At the beginning of the trail, there is lots of water (I think the trailhead had just reopened due to flooding the previous days). Salmon were visible in the shallow steams, and little dippers were, well... dipping... into the water, it looked like to eat salmon eggs. There was also a river otter, and someone had seen a bobcat. There are signs about aggressive elk in the area, but we did not see any around the visitor center.
We hiked from the visitor center to just past Tom Creek with plenty of detours to explore the river. There are two sets of falls near Tom Creek that have a lot of water and were really beautiful. The second set of falls spilled over onto the trail, so there is a short stretch of hiking in the creek. The views of the Olympics from riverside were excellent (snow cone city). While the road in reminded me of Hwy 20 towards Marblemount, the valley reminded me a bit of an over-the-top Snoqualmie Middlefork valley.
The rainforest is beautiful. I did not think it would be as different as say, the Snoqualmie Middlefolk Trail, as it was. The huge old-growth trees. The incredible moss - it reminded me of Spanish Moss in Georgia and Louisianna. The moss had some fall color, and the low-angle sunshine lit up the whole forest similar to what you would encouter on a larch hike in the fall. Add in the periodic mist from the river, and it was an enchanting scene.
We did not see any elk on the hike itself, but there are herds visible on Hwy 101 (e.g. near Forks). There were eagles near the river, and a strangely tame Ptarmigan (forest chicken) noodling along the trail. Lots of elk and coyote tracks the further in we went, but we saw neither. We were short for time, as we wanted to make the sunset of Ruby Beach, so we did not make it to all the way to Fivemile Island.
This hike was about an hour away from our Kalaloch Beach staging point (see here).
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