Trip Reports

I read so many TRs from LDW where the weather was bad, I just wanted to share my LDW weather: perfect. Where, you say? The coastal strip of Olympic NP and nearby rainforest valleys.

Tanja, Daisy and I drove out on Friday night when I got off work around 7 pm, so we got in to Kalaloch campground pretty durn late. But with a motorhome, who cares? Just go in back and go to sleep, after a short beach walk in the starlight, of course. We had reservations for Friday and Sunday, with zip for Saturday, but I knew it wouldn't be a problem, since there are always no-shows. We lucked out in that a bluff campsite was available for Sat and Sun, so the ranger let us switch for Sun. The rest of the weekend we ""camped"" with the motorhome backed right up to the beach, except for a 25 ft bluff trail and some driftwood.



Saturday was ""do nothing"" day. Just de-stressing, resting, feasting, a little beach walking and a bit of playing with the dog, then break time again.



Sunday was rainforest day, so we drove up to the Hoh river TH and campground, with a stop to see bigfoot at the Rainforest Cafe. Knowing the rules, we knew we could take the dog for a walk in the extensive picnic area and around the three campground loops, all told well over a mile, including a nice river section. It is a pretty good walk, especially when the majority of the campsites are empty, which was strange for the Sunday of LDW.



Then we put the dog in the motorhome with a bowl of water and the ceiling fan on, and we headed up the Hoh river trail. Our destination: the nice waterfall about 2 1/2 miles in, across from Tom's creek. The Hoh trail is a natural wonder, a true delight to walk, rain or shine. We had shine. Giant trees draped in moss and carpeted in ferns, lush vegetation covering every square inch of every surface, the absolute quiet of every sound muffled before it can move an inch, sweet!



The waterfall is small but very intimate. There is a trail that goes up to it, take the short detour if you are up there. Sitting by that waterfall, I could well imagine I was in some fantasy land or fairy tale. Magical. It was also very nice to hike with Tanja, a rare treat. The flatness of the trail allowed her to do the almost 6 miles R/T without trouble. It felt weird to hike with her but without the dog. I kept looking around for her. In any case it was cool to be off the tourist loops near the TH, which were uber-crowded.



Monday was another restful day of beach lounging, until it was time to drive home in the late afternoon. We disdained the ferry system and drove through Olympia and Aberdeen both ways, since our motorhome is more than 7'6"" tall so we would have to pay double. At 17 mpg, I'm better off by far driving around. It was 210 miles each way, instead of 160 by ferry, so I saved $30 in ferry fares each way but spent $11 e/w in extra gas. That's $38 saved R/T!

Pictures are posted at www.flickr.com/photos/slugman

Started out for a five night backpacking trip to Glacier Meadows on a beautiful Sunday with the threat of storms. Night one at Happy Four (5.7 miles in) we saw some lightning which was followed by a spectacular pink, lavender and gold sunset. It was a dry night. Day Two was an uneventful hike to campsite 13.3 just past the High Hoh Bridge. There were a few sprinkles during the night, but we stayed dry.

Day three was the final uphill push to Glacier Meadows. Stunning view of Mt Olympus and White Glacier atop it. Incredible sounds across the valley of the thundering waterfalls created by glacier and snow runoff. About 3/10 of a mile from Glacier Meadows, an avalanche chute has wiped out 200 yds of the trail, and you must cross the chute to get to Glacier Meadows. It is treacherous, but doable. Look for the orange-flagged route and follow that.

At Glacier Meadows, a fall-like storm blew in with heavy rain, wind, and dropping temperatures. So on the morning of Day Four, we were motivated to get out. Hiked the full 17.5 miles out in 11 hours, under rain on and off the whole way. Beautiful trail though!

Hiking the Hoh is one of our favorites as a day hike or a backpack. This time it would be a day hike to 5 Mile Island.

The Park Service reported 2 washouts, at 1 mile and 3 mile. The first one has been flagged and cleared ready for the WTA trail crew for finishing work. We thought this would mean an easy hike. Wrong! The 2nd washout was at 2 miles and unmarked. We wandered off for a short way on an elk trail. Backtracking we tried again staying close to the river and found the trail again along the river. After another mile there was a 3rd washout. This time we stayed close to the river and easily picked up the trail. Further along is a bridge with a large sinkhole on your first step off the bridge. There is increasing snow on the trail and numerous blowdowns. Once the snow is melted the blowdowns should not be a major problem.

Just before reaching our lunch spot at 5 Mile Island we passed our favorite tree. It's a large western red cedar about 10' in diameter. It had a large side branch that had a 90 degree bend in it growing straight up as big as most trees. Alas, the branch has broken off. It fell without blocking the trail. You can easily walk between the fallen branch and the trail. Hopefully the Park Service and the WTA trail crew will leave it. It might become a nurse log. Let future hikers marvel at once was and what will be.

I hiked about 4+ miles up the Hoh River trail. At about 1 mile the trail is gone and there's a cleared/flagged way around the wash out. Just after 2 miles, there's another wash out and no flagged/cleared way...you just kind of find your own way through the bushes, keep as close to the river as possible, and watch out for the phone/internet/tv cable laying in wait for you..I tripped on it...sure hope the bears enjoy their new HDTV .. wherever it goes! The next 2 miles are up/down and nothing major to crawl over/under. Only a few patches of snow on the trail, largest about 100' long and stomped down. I turned around when I encountered some rather large black/hairy scat on the trail. Weather held up and didn't rain in the rainforest and I actually had some sun! Only saw 2 other people near the start of the trail and the walk was a really enjoyable winter hike.

Just back from a 5 day, 36 mile trip from Hoh River Visitor Center Trailhead along Hoh River Trail, up to the High Divide, down to Sol Duc, back up to Appleton Pass, then out through Olympic Hot Springs Trailhead. We saw a band of elk and a deer at the Hoh River Visitor Center camp.

The walk on Monday from the Visitor Center along the Hoh River to the Olympic Ranger Station was beautiful and an easy 9 miles, even with the heavy packs. My mother walked the first 4 miles with us, carrying lunch, and then headed back after we passed the second campsites. We spent the night on the sand bar (ranger's suggestion: more wind; fewer bugs!). I'm an idiot and lost a pair of women's Chacos on the sandbar (forgot to make sure they were attached to my pack before heading off)!

Before heading off, everyone warned us that the climb from Hoh River to Hoh Lake would be killer, but boy, were they right. Tuesday evening my brother was ill with impending bronchitis, so we wimped out at C.B. Flats and camped for the night, finishing the climb to Heart Lake the next day. Luckily this was provisioned for in the trip plan, since we had hoped to walk the Cat Basin Primitive Trail on Wednesday. It was so foggy that day, though, that it's really just as well we did not attempt it. We chased a few grouse up the trail for a switchback or two.

C.B. Flats was just going into bloom and was beautiful, and very, very wet. We found a site under some trees across the trail from the group site, and were thankful for our bear cans!

The climb to the High Divide was still tough in the morning. Hoh Lake was damp but not raining, very cold. We saw several marmots along the top of the trail near the High Divide. No snow left on the trail along the High Divide (ok, one tiny 5ft wide patch). No berries ripe yet, everything was just blooming, we wished we were coming back in two weeks!!

Heart Lake was freezing cold (literally: there was frost when I woke up on Thursday morning). We saw a herd of elk, two bears, and a family of mountain goats from our camp at Heart Lake. The elk and bears were across the valley on the other hillside. A family of grouse walked straight through camp as we were setting up.

On Thursday, the descent from Heart Lake to Appleton Pass junction was fast, but watch your step, those rocks don't stay put! Had to get creative to cross the creek at Deer Park Campground, and oh my lord the mosquitos there are enough to drive an elephant away.

Our Thursday afternoon climb up to Appleton Pass was easy, but the trail was starting to disappear under the plant life... this doesn't seem to be nearly as popular a trail as the 7 Lakes Basin trails. We arrived at the Pass viewpoint and picked a campsite, gathered water and chatted with the group who scored the awesome (unsigned) campsite next to Oyster Lake. I found it amusing that the Appleton Pass signpost indicates bearwires, but makes no mention of the only source of water for miles... we stumbled on it on a hunch! Lots of deer in camp this night.

Friday morning was our first really sunny day, and we woke at 6:30 and hiked back to the pass viewpoint to get a good look at Mt. Olympus before heading down. Just about 500 ft down the switchbacks we spotted two more bears on the slide near Oyster Lake.

From the switchbacks down to the bridge at Boulder Creek, the trail got really bad. We nearly lost it a few times in the high meadow, had a fun time climbing across a few full streams, and clambered over at least 10 large downed trees completely across the trail in several places. Looks like the trail crew hasn't made it up there at all yet this year, and the damage was pretty bad. We never had to take packs off, but beware you may need extra time to negotiate a few of these obstacles.

Made it to Olympic Hot Springs at about 2pm, where we sat and soaked in a great pool before packing it all up and walking out to the trailhead to meet our ride. All in all a great trip!!

Headed up the Hoh River to Climb Mt. Olympus... The trail suffered a lot of damage over the winter, but the park service has basically cleaned it all up, and things are in really good shape. Of course, the forest along the trail is stunning - the gigantic trees make one feel small, like a little kid again. Just thought I'd note a couple minor obstacles.

About 7 miles in (a mile before Olympic Guard Station), the trail crosses a side-channel of the Hoh. You can ford the stream just about 20 feet downstream of where the more obvious ""horse ford"" is... it's about knee-thigh deep and maybe 20 feet across, and moderately swift. (the horse ford spot is chest deep, so don't cross there!) Or, immediately downstream from that (like another 20 feet downstream), there is a log-jam, and you can cross on two logs. The second of these can get covered by water when the runoff is high (i.e. evenings after a hot day), but when we were there, the water was down about 8 inches in the morning vs. evening, and this will be less of a problem as the season goes on.

Then, about a mile from Glacier Meadows, the trail traverses a washed-out area. If you're a little unsteady on your feet, it might cause you some angst. There's a bit of loose scree to cross, but if you take your time and watch your step, you'll be fine.

Mosquitoes were out, but only horrible in random patches in the thick woods. Near the river, where there's often a breeze, you might find some relief.

FYI, the trail crews were working hard on the trail to Hoh Lake, which had a lot of blowdowns... I imagine that'll be cleaned up in the next couple weeks.

The climb went well btw. But that's a different story!

Sixty years ago I climbed Mt. Olympus with the Seattle Mountaineers. I was 19 at the time. This July I returned to the mountain with four friends to try the summit again. We left Seattle on July 11 and were on the Hoh River Trail by 2pm. In 90 degree temperature. We hiked five miles to Five Mile Island where camp was made for the night. The next morning was cooler and our group headed for Elk Lake some ten miles distant. The trail was in good shape with only one thigh deep ford.

LIttle elevation is gained in the first 12 miles from the trail head, but upon reaching the high bridge the trail starts up in earnest with no respite. Elk Lake was reached in late afternoon, and it was early to bed as we were all bushed. The next morning our hike continued to Glacier Meadows some 2.5 miles and 1700 feet in elevation gain. Near the Meadows, the trail crosses a slide area where there is little tread left. It was a dicey crossing with each step being measured. We rested most of the day in preparation for the summit assault and were up a 3:30 the next mroning. We left camp at 4:30 and were on the lateral moraine by 5:30. Dropping down from the moraine onto the relatively flat Blue Glacier, we crossed it with ease. It was at this point that the climb starts in earnest. The snow was in good shape for kicking steps, but where possible we chose to scramble up rock that was free of snow. The snow dome was reached by late morning where two of our party chose not to go on. They would remain at the research building until we returned from the summit. (The research building is nothing more that a big prefab box.)

Just ahead of our party was a well equipped group of five climbers. They had helmets, harnesses, carabiners and other assorted climbing gear. We, on the other hand, had only ice axes. Following their footsteps, we skirted a massive bergschrund and proceeded around to the backside of the mountain and up some very steep slpes to the middle or false summit. This summit is slightly lower than the real summit. It was here we chose to end our climb, as going on without a rope was not prudent. After the requisite photos and a bit of lunch, we headed down reaching camp after more than 12 hours on the mountain. The next day we hiked 12 miles to Five Mile Island and the following day reach the car by noon. In six days we had hiked more than 40 miles and climbed over 7000 feet.

Started out on the Hoh River trail Saturday morning in spite of reports of bad conditions due to winter storms. Indeed, the blowdown resulting from winter storms was quite astonishing, and it's amazing seeing 200-year old trees strewn about like pick-up sticks all over the trail. That being said, the park service has already done a lot of maintenance and largely cleared all the debris up to the sandbar camp at mile 7.8, making the trail very passable up to that point. If you plan to stay at that camp, there is a creek ford just before which will probably require you to remove shoes and socks to walk across, but the water is shallow and no current to speak of at that point, so crossing is relatively easy. After mile 7.8, trail maintenance has not yet been done this year and the effects of the winter flooding and wind storms are really seen in full force. For the next 1.3 miles to the Olympus guard station (where we camped) at mile 9.1, expect several areas of bushwacking, trail washouts, crawling on hands and knees under limbs of various sizes, and climbing over very large tree trunks in your path. Do not expect to make good time over this last 1.3 miles. I imagine however that some maintenance will be done on this last 1.3 miles within the next few weeks.

Day 2 we took the Hoh Lake trail, past the Olympus guard station and left at the junction and up the ridge. More of the same difficult travel experienced between 7.8 camp and the guard station as described above. Lots of debris all along this trail, and I suspect it may be significantly longer before they're able to clear this one up. Didn't make it all the way to Hoh Lake as we decided to turn around high on the ridge with about a mile to go due to time constraints.

Camped night 2 at the guard station again and hiked back out on day 3. All in all, conditions were better than I expected, and in spite of some challenging traverses, the hike was well worth it. The valley and Hoh River are stunning and teeming with wildlife (we saw Elk, Sage Grouse, snakes (harmless, not rattlers), and hummingbirds), and gained an appreciation for the circle of life in the rainforest, seeing how even a ""hundred-year storm"" as we had this last winter plays a part in developing new nurse logs that will eventually be teeming with new flora. I highly recommend this trail.

Clay

Trail cleanup has only just begun to address down trees from last November's storms. Crews have made it as far as Happy Four shelter with chainsaws, beyond which is a disaster.

The NPS trail conditions page said 53 down trees, and while we weren't counting, there were enough to add a few miles and many hours of bushwhacking to our round-trip. A few trees have fallen lenghtwise down the trail, requiring substantial detours. Note that the shelter at Elk Lake has been chopped in half (literally) by a fallen tree!

Both 5/19 and 5/20 saw persistent rainfall, and the trail was very muddy and washed-out in a number of places. Two total washouts require either a muddy scramble or a major detour and bushwhack. I've heard something about bushwhack ratings (e.g. BW1 - BW5, where BW1 is no trail no brush and BW5 requires a machete).. we were joking that some sections were BW10.

In all, the trail is still in gorgeous country and worth hiking. It will just take longer and require more effort than usual.

We do not like long hikes in the trees, so we must have been crazy to choose this trip over the 4 day weekend. Maybe it was because we had heard how stunning the Blue Glacier is, and we had the time and good weather forecast.

The Hoh River trail is in good shape to just before Glacier Meadow.There are many campsites along the way (at .9,2.3,2.9,5,5.7,9.1,10.5, and 13.3 miles for example), and we spent our first night at the Olympus Guard Station camp (9.1 miles).

The second day we continued in the trees to Glacier Meadow. There were no views until above Elk Lake (a pond), and then back into the trees again. About .25 miles before the Glacier Meadow camp the trail is washed out and very hazardous! Hikers have just kicked steps into loose dirt and gravel on a very steep slope. It took us 10 minutes to carefully cross this section. Upon arriving at Glacier Meadow we were very disappointed. We were still is trees! We set up camp and continued the last 1.3 miles to the Lateral Moraine. Finally! A beautiful meadow and then the Blue Glacier! We watched a group of climbers descending, and another group ascending to spend the night on the dome of Mt. Olympus.

Mt. Olympus looks like a fun climb. We kicked ourselves for not bringing our climbing gear. We were probably the only people at the campsite who did not climb.

The following day we hiked out 12.5 miles, and spent the last night at 5 mile Island. We both had sore feet.

Although the Blue Glacier is beautiful, it is a long, long slog in the forest to get there. Unless you are going to climb Mt. Olympus it would be best to camp below on the river and just dayhike to the Lateral Moraine.

Distance: 38 miles RT

El. gain: 5000 ft.

Ignore NPS report about needing crampons and ice axe. There is no snow on trail until you hit Blue Glacier. However, there are two scary landlslide crossings about Elk Lake where the trail is less than a foot wide on crumbly steep terrain.

Perfect weather, few bugs, and excellent scenery. Hiked 10.5M to Lewis meadows on Fri, then day hiked 18M round trip Sat to Blue Glacier. I did not know such ices fields existed in the Olympics. Wow. Stopped at Elk lake and caught a few Eastern Brook. Decent fish, but limited access. Hiked back out on Sunday. Saw 3 deer and less people than I expected. There is one knee deep creek crossing at 7.8M. There are a few big logs across the trail throughout.

If you are just going to see the rainforest, you need not go beyond Olympic Gaurd Station. If you go to see Blue Glacier, it is worth the effort, but spend more time than I did.

We finally got to spend three days in the Olympics. On Sunday we did about a five mile stretch of the Hoh River trail, the weather was great and it was wonderful to walk amongst the great ones. It was icy and cold in spots and then sunny and warm in others. We kept getting in and out of our warm clothes due to changing conditions in the forest. When we left we saw three elk standing there and when we got out of the car they were close enought to touch. Needless to say we took lots of pictures! Happy Hiking :0)

Hiked the Hoh River trai to Olympus on Wednesday, day hiked to Glacier meadows on Thursday. Climbed the boulder field to the lateral moraine and beheld the Blue Glacier-- Whoa! Who knew? A once in a lifetime experience, incredible to get so high up in November without snow

Trail in very good shape and clear all the way through to Glacier Meadows with one exception. About half a mile from Glacier Meadows there is a washed out gully where a new trail had to be hacked into the hillside. A downed tree was cut but for some reason it was left too long. The tree overhangs at a narrow and steep point on the trail so take care to watch your head and pack as you pass.

Rain on Friday so trail was muddy and slippery in places. Clear and hot weather Saturday through Monday. Beautiful day for a climb on Sunday and made it to the summit of Olympus. Crampons useful on Blue Glacier but snow was soft leading to Snow Dome and beyond. Route through Crystal pass made use of snow bridge that is likely gone by now so passing the bergschrund may now be problematic. Easy going round back then up over false summit, down to saddle then up last snow ramp to the summit block. A beautiful day on top with clear views of the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver Island, Mts Baker, Rainier, St. Helens and Adams. On return amazing streams of water running across the Blue Glacier.

A long hike out on Monday but rewarded with beautiful scenery along the river and a refreshing swim in Lake Crescent on the drive back.

Wonderful, wet, mudfest! Elk in the parking lot. Deer in camp. Bald eagles on the river. Moss, lichens, fungus as thick as I've ever seen it. The trail is clear (although muddy) to the Olympus Ranger Station, about 10 miles from the trail head. Just wish that the clouds had lifted high enough to see the what lies above. kb

For us, a two-nighter up the Hoh. Hikers take note of trail wash-out near 5-mile. Otherwise a straight-shot to the Blue Glacier approach with snow before 3,000. Hoh lake a do-able and strenuous day trip even at this time of year. Great weather! Overall our trip perfect, but certain not-to-be-mentioned persons in our party, who were to be responsible for evening meals, left us having to rely upon the emergency bag of lentils for evening meals. Our apologies for other campers downwind of us over this weekend.

The trail is in relativily good repair considering the amount of damage that could have been done. Tom Creek foot bridge is gone, but easy enough to cross over there. Some bridges that had been washed off their supports were put back in the last week or so. 5 mile island camp area has lost some sites, but personally, now that the river has moved further away and left a bed of river rock and sand, I think it is for the better. Now it's a fantastic place for lunch. The bear wire was just a few feet from being totally washed away, and the privy is fine. At 5.1 miles in, the trail is washed away. Completely gone. I was told there is a trail around it, but if so it's poorly marked. I chose to go down to the river bed and go back up to the trail when it was in evidence. The bridge from 7.8 mile creek is gone, but there is a log across it for those who want to cross that way. I chose to get my feet wet. A lot of the meadow at the guard station is gone or trashed with silt covering everything. It will take a couple of years to look like a meadow again. Also, a side note: something big died over by the horses area/privy. It really was rank and was a definite dead animal smell. The back two camp areas were most affected, but you could get an wiff once in a while in the other camp spots. Hopefully, that will go away in the next month, but until then, I recommend sleeping at lewis meadows. However, I didn't see what shape it was in, but most anything would be better than smelling dead carcass all night.

The PNWH posse all met up friday night for a relaxing evening of car camping at the Hoh campground, and got an early start on saturday morning. As Ldyblade commented (she is part of our group-but went out 2 days before us and we caught up to her)the trail is nice till just after 5 Mile Island camp. Then it is a fun climb down and thru the blowout. There are 3 fords of creeks afterwards, but besides depth, they are easy. Had a nice encounter with a bull elk on the trail maybe 6 miles out. Besides the bad rotting smell at Olympus Guard, it is a really nice campsite. We met up with Ldyblade there. Walked out early due to the hot temps all weekend-it was in the high 70's and low 80's. The forest is VERY dry right now. Had a herd of elk thunder in front of us, and heard the baby elks crying next to us. At the first ford back, I could smell very, very strong cat urine on the bed of the stream-cougar?? An excellent 18.4 mile hike-just expect lots of trail mud, fords of creeks and the big blowout and a couple small trees down.

Jim, my two brothers and I did an ascent of Mt. Olympus the weekend of July 25 - 28. We drove over Friday, hiked in to 13.3-mile camp just beyond the High Hoh bridge for the first night. We decided to split up the approach into two days. Day two we established a base camp at Glacier Meadows at just over 18 miles. The trail is nearly flat to abut a mile before the High Hoh bridge, after which it begins to climb to Glacier Meadows. There is a section of trail beyond the bridge that crosses a steep scree slope with a narrow boot path. It gave us pause, looking down hundreds of feet of hard-packed dirt and loose rock. Glacier Meadows camp is nice - they even have a boulder that you can practice using your prussiks. We spent a little time on the boulder.

Day three - summit day. We couldn't have asked for better weather! Bluebird, all day! Left camp at 5:00, later than we wanted because the darned alarm didn't go off! Worked our way up the Blue, made an end run around some rock buttresses, and topped out on the snow dome. It was all in good condition thus far, a few crevasses opening up, we had to leap over two. Started to see other people on the route - but with the weather forecast, we didn't think we'd have the mountain to ourselves anyway. We chose to go the Crystal Pass approach to the summit block. The steepest snow was about 40 to 45 degrees, and there was an excellent runout. It made for fun glissading on the way down.

We chose to ascend a route on the north face of the West Peak. The books and other trip reports mention a class 4 scramble, but what we saw didn't look like class 4. There was another party ahead of us, but in the true spirit of alpinism and cooperation, we joined forces and shared ropes, and all ten of us summited (not all at once, of course!). We agreed that the rock was probably lower 5th class, like 5.4-ish on fairly sound rock. The other party's leader started up on their rope, a second person trailed our rope and then they fixed them at the summit. The rest of us ascended the fixed rope using prussiks to self-belay. It was a scene reminiscent of the Hillary Step! I would recommend if there are more than three in the party, take a second rope so you don't have to belay halfway, unless you are comfortable simul-climbing fifth class rock. There is a rappel rock at the summit with several slings, a few of them look new. It is nearly a full 165-foot rappel from the summit to the snow. A bergschrund is developing, with a hefty step to get to the rock. It may be difficult to access the rock as time goes on and this heat continues. Moreover, there is a snowbridge on the Crystal Pass approach that won't last much longer. It was thin when we crossed it, and melting fast. But there is probably another way around it, just more convoluted.

We summited at 1:00 that afternoon. After a short time on top taking photos, we rappelled down to the snow for an enjoyable glissade. We got back to base camp at around 6:00, then packed up and moved camp down the trail to attempt to take some of the sting out of the hike out the next day.

We moved camp to a nice site at Martin Creek, at mile 15. Our tired, hungry bodies didn't want to go any further that night. Monday, our feet felt no better, and our packs seemed to have gained weight! The hike out was grueling, and our feet ached! We took occasional breaks, but each time we stopped, our feet would hurt worse! We had 15 miles to hike out to the trailhead and clean cotton. Going slower only made it worse. About mile 12, I decided to just kick it in, ratchet up the pace to about 3 miles per hour (from the steady 2 we had been keeping), and I stopped for nobody! Not even the group of very large men in dark glasses wearing brand spankin' new backpacking gear! I was tired of getting no respect, nobody yielding the trail even though I had the law of gross tonnage behind me (large pack, fast pace, and good forward momentum), but I must have had this crazy, wounded bear kind of look, cause these guys parted like the Red Sea! Only later did I find out that Laura Bush was visiting the park that day, and it was her entourage that we passed, she was on the side of the trail with a park naturalist (my brother noticed her, but he lives in DC) and there I was, all 5'4"" of me forcing the secret service off the trail! But I hurt too badly to stop! I mean, everyone knows that you don't mess with a wounded bear! Needless to say, we were focused. My two brothers were well ahead of Jim and me, and it wasn't until we were back to the parking lot that we realized what was going on in the rain forest.

Footwear notes: two of the group did the approach in trail running shoes. Aching feet, but not as badly as the two in hiking boots. I wore hiking boots in and used plastic boots on the climb. The shoe change was great! My feet felt great during the climb. They started aching again on the way out. I was wondering if it is just that the hiking boot isn't designed to support that kind of impact (flat trail, heavy heel strike, heavy pack). Yes, I realize that I could have taken lighter gear, packed lighter, but I think I did well to keep my pack to under 40 pounds for a four-day trip with climbing gear. My brothers' feet still hurt, but not until the hike out. The running shoes seemed to be the footwear of choice among our small group. I loved the plastic boots on the climb. I took off the plastic shell for the rock pitch (climbed in the inner boot - I have Lowa Denali's).

Truly a magic climb - one to be savored. We only wished we had more time to enjoy the trip out, too, and not beat out the last 15 miles, but we were ready for real food, cotton clothes, and a hot shower.

Bev and I decided to take a relaxing backpack to the Olympics. On Thursday, we hiked in on the well-graded Hoh River Trail to Slough Camp or as it now known, 7.8 Mile Camp. The camp is located on a sand bar and provided us with water front property the entire weekend. We could see and hear the rushing waters of the beautiful Hoh and enjoy its beautiful forest. Friday, we day hiked to Elk Lake, making our way along the gradually climbing trail, while enjoying the magnificent trees, undergrowth, birds and streams. Various hiking and climbing parties grunted their way past on their way up the trail to Elk Lake or Glacier Meadows. After enjoying the gorge bridge and admiring the plunging waters, we climbed towards Elk Lake to the old shelter. From here, the secondary trail climbs to Glacier Meadows. We weren't in the mood to climb another 2600' feet and it was getting late, so we turned back and zoomed down the trail back to our quiet camp. The dayhike was 14.1 miles, 1600'.

Saturday we hiked part way up the Hoh Lake Trail to see what it was like. It is well-graded. Although there are lots of switchbacks, there is a long traverse on each one to allow hikers to regain their breath. We had a short conversation with one of the trail crew members who have been working in the area. The Hoh Lake Trail is open to the lake from Hoh River, as is the trail to Glacier Meadows. Repairs to the tread and removal of blow-downs were to be completed by the end of Saturday. The crew has not been to the Solduck side so they could not report the conditions there.

We hiked out on Sunday, joining an exodus of backpackers leaving the beautiful Hoh. It was an enjoyable backpack to a beautiful and special place.

All stream crossings are low; no problems. No blow-downs. Some small mud puddles were encountered and are to be expected in a rain forest. The forest was actually a bit on the dry side so rain would be a good thing. There is a lot of lush undergrowth in this area and ancient old growth timber. The Hoh was running high with glacial and snow melt but not a threat to the sand bar camps. Also, from the Tacoma area expect to allow 4 hours of driving time or more on the way back. Traffic was heavy on Hwy 101 Sunday afternoon.

Enjoy!

Mar 15-16

Hoh Rainforest Nearly the entire west side of the park was closed on this day due to recent windstorms and washouts. Out of luck, managed to sneak up the Hoh Valley last minute. Within the first mile there is a downed old growth tree (well over 100 ft in length) that decimated the forest and happened to land along the trail too. Passable. Many downed trees the first few miles. The trail also at many points was under standing water, or a stream. It seems the local waterways found it easier to use the trail as a way out, averaged from inches to two feet deep. Saw 35 elk total, beautiful creatures. Camped at Olympic Ranger Station, all quiet. All well.

I started out early on the trailhead as I figured even with the rain there would always been lots of people on the trail at least the first couple miles in. I was so wrong. I was one of the two cars in the lot and the first on the trail. I couldn't find anyone to give my entrance fee to, either, so figured I would pay on the way back out. I am always surprised how non-muddy I get on this trail. The clay in the ground must help. There were tons of puddles but you could walk thru most of them with good hiking boots. Lots of trees were down and only one cleared, but the others were easily crossed as was Mineral creek, which is running high and has no foot bridge. With long legs you can jump it, shallow end to shallow end. I took the little root system that crosses it. You can find it to the left a little ways. Just don't fall in, since it also looked to be the deepest part of the creek. I decided to jump the creek on the way back and got slightly wet feet in the process. I didn't think my luck with balance would work a second time. It rained most of the time and when it didn't, the moss in the trees constantly piddled on my head. The ferns shined a glorious green and when the sun came out, you could see the bottom of the river. No fish, though I looked for a good 10 minutes. The snow on the foothills made me remember that here it was mid-Febuary and I was hiking earlier in the season then I had ever had. I only hiked in about 4 miles and the wind from the mountain hit me. Chilled and reminded that I was still too out of shape to go much further then 8 miles with a loaded pack(conditioning myself for backpacking) I headed back out. About 1 1/2 miles before the trailhead, I started to see people in couples. It had stopped raining by then, but clouds had moved in and the ferns no longer shined.....

We left the trail head @ 4pm friday 6/28. It was already was drizzling, but not quite raining. We made our goal of 5 mile Island camp around 7:30. The trail was a little mucky, but the clay provided a good base and you don't really sink down. Gaiters would have been nice. At about 3.5 miles in, we encountered an elk herd, and a little further in, another small herd. It was raining by then and people were leaving in droves. We hiked up to the ranger station the next morning and the trail was fairly similar, only no people. There are a few small streams that have no bridges, but are easily crossed. Saw some deer up at the ranger station and a couple of rabbits. The hike out was uneventful, other then a lot of people headed up now that the rain had cleared for the most part. Some elk decided to walk on the trail and made it a little more mucky than usual. A great three days even with the rain. I plan to come back with my 6 y.o. and do an overnight at Tom Creek camp.

Left the empty parking lot at 0800 Sunday morning for a day hike to the Mt. Tom Crk. flats. Trail is a little muddy in places but no major water problems following last weeks floods. About 500 feet of trail gone just above the 1 mile mark but a boot beaten path gets you around it without much trouble. Trail has been cleared to the Tom Crk. jct. Saw recent elk signs but no animals to be seen. All in all a nice day for a hike!

I am a recent transplant from Spokane, WA to Hilo, HI. I guess I just got tired of the long winters in the Northwest. One can hike in Hawaii 12 months out of the year. I do need that occassional high alpine fix, however. So I recently decided to fly over to the mainland for a quick trip in the Olympics.

My flight was delayed (so what else is new) and by the time I made it out of SEA-TAC with my rental car it was 11:00 PM Friday night. Four long hours of driving later I arrived at the Hoh trailhead and grabbed a couple of uncomfortable hours sleep in the back seat.

After purchasing my backcountry permit I was finally on the trail. The first 13 miles is an essentially flat hike on well maintained trail with periodic glimpses of the Hoh river. After crossing the awesome gorge at mile 13 the trail starts a steady climb for 2 miles to Elk lake where I spent both nights. Elk lake is at 2600 ft.

The following morning I got an early start up to Glacier Meadows. The trail climbs steadily with increasing views of the mountains and glaciers. The meadows are at 4300 ft. From there one has two choices. A fairly steep and rocky trail up to a moraine over- looking the Blue Glacier and Mt. Olympus or a less steep and shorter trail to the terminus of the glacier. Both viewpoints are well worth the effort. I spent several hours at each spot enjoying the spectacular views and the unexpected solitude which probably resulted from doing this hike in October. Fortunately the weather remained mild and the snow level never caught up with me. Sunday night I believe it dropped down to 3500 ft.

Hiking out on Monday October 8th my batteries have been recharged. I am now ready to enjoy winter in Hawaii. But I am already planning my next hiking adventure in the beautiful woods of the Northwest when the snows become a distant memory.

I hiked from the Hoh visitor's center to Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus and back from August 13th to August 21st (I'm fairly slow). The black biting flies were very bad on the first few (hot) days. Once at Glacier Meadows (4,300ft), the bugs disappeared. The trail is in beautiful condition all the way until just before Glacier Meadows, where there are 3 landslide chutes which are pretty scary to get past. A whole herd of Roosevelt Elk were lounging on a sand bar in the river about 3 miles in. Blue Glacier was an awesome place to be on Friday the 17th, with sun all day and fog rolling in about sunset. Be sure not to miss going to the ""terminus trail"", which I preferred to the ""upper moraine trail"". I was surprised at just how blue Blue Glacier is! The crevasses were a startlingly deep cobalt. The rainforrest on the Hoh river trail was amazing, and the ""High Hoh Bridge"" is spectacular. Camping is allowed on sand bars in the river (privacy).

I left Friday after work and hit heavy traffic, then a looonnggg wait for the ferry to Kingston. This put me way behind the rest of the gang, who had left 12 hours earlier. By the time I got to the trailhead, it was 10pm and time for a long nap.

So I got up early, downed a large bottle of ketchup and headlamped up the trail, missing all the wonderful rainforest in the dark. 45 minutes later it was light enough to see the enormous trees along this route. Somewhere in this time I heard numerous crackling of branches in the forest, and then hooved animals bounded off in fright. I guess I should use better deodorant or wear a bag over my head.

By 7:15 I was at the Olympic Guard Station where the gang was camped. But they were nowhere to be found. Hoping they had risen early, I continued up the trail. So far the trail is nearly flat, having risen only 500' in 9 miles -- the flattest, longest trail I've hiked. Within 90 minutes I caught the mangy group as they slogged uphill. No longer as level, we somehow stumbled our way to Glacier Meadows, where we were mercilessly attacked by billions of flies. This is the farthest I've hiked before noon, or before lunch and I was hungry and not nearly as energetic as those dumb flies (easy to swat). The flies went to bed at night, fortunately.

After checking out the climbing route that afternoon, we retired early. At 3am we started off up the moraine trail, then descended to the Blue Glacier (aptly named). Our route went alongside the edge of the glacier to where the blue stops and the white starts. In the early light we could see without headlamps, but didn't notice the glacier was actually a vicious swamp that even gaters can't tolerate. Water was flowing everywhere in the slush. Yuck. But after 15 minutes of crossing water-filled crevasses we were on solid ice and snow. The route up to the Snow Dome has some crevasses, but none were a problem. The route through Crystal Pass is still ""open"" with plenty of crevasses to negotiate. After the class 4 climb to the top we were treated to some great views. Too bad the ocean was covered in fog. But I could see Mt Fuji to the west and Mont Blanc to the east. The register box is from the Mazamas dated 1939.

One double-rope rappel got us off the summit block. We crossed the Blue quite a bit lower, to avoid the slush. However, this flat portion of the glacier has lots of flowing water. It felt like crossing a broken-ice frozen lake, although the ice was very solid. Our rope leader fell through one crevasse up to her armpits, but we managed to pull her out. Luckily it wasn't one of the water-filled cracks.

We packed up our gear and painfully walked our sore and tired feet back to Olympic Guard Station. Here, the mosquito problem was very manageable. After well-needed rest we walked back out the last flat 9.1 miles. On my way out I saw a deer and fawn at camp. This time I really enjoyed the rain forest splendor. There is one particularly spectacular set of huge cedars, grouped close together. It was a welcome sight to see lots of dayhikers with video cameras, meaning we were close to the end. Oh, my feet! But what a trip.

This trail is heavily used, especially when we have weather as great as we did on this weekend! Besides running into multiple parties of dayhikers and backpackers, it was a gorgeous trip: great views of the river and the sight of huge cedar and spruce trees. Whether you're doing a short hike or a long one, stop over at 5 Mile Island for a bit... it's a gorgeous group campsite right by the river with spectacular views. However, watch out for large mudholes in the trail and ""presents"" left by horses and llamas that use the trail.

Well, I must have met Roger on the trail and not realized it. I was the camera and tripod toting guy, working on my stock photography. The trail up the Hoh is in marvelous shape, at least as far as the Olympic Guard Station. The spring vegetation is just starting to come out further up the trail. However the ferns are out in full force for the first 2.5 miles (as if they ever left!). The rains hit about mid-afternoon, light at first but soon coming down cats and dogs. This is when I realized that the Hoh Rain Forest HAS to be the most incredible place to experience the rain in the state of Washington. I found myself finding every excuse to pause amidst the ferns and streams and simply admire the reflective greens and yellows (while getting drenched!). I have climbed Mt. Olympus twice, and have always galloped along this trail with a deadline to meet at Elk Lake. So this was a real treat.

The trail has benefitted from much recent maintenance. There were only a few ""mud pits"" that had to be dealt with. Also, the road is being re-routed in 3-4 places, directing it away from the river. I suspect the project will be finished by summer.

Pics will be posted soon at http://www.mountainscenes.com.

We hiked as far as Five Mile Island. The trail is in great shape and much drier than normal for this time of year. You can tell it's spring by the birds, lots of twittering and other great bird music, especially the Winter Wrens, and Vaired Thrush with an occasional Woodpecker for percussion. There were quite a few people, day-hikers and backpackers on the trail this beautiful Saturday.

Began a 5-day trip on Aug. 10th from the Hoh-Bogachiel trailhead, located on the north side of the Hoh River Road just before reaching the park entrance station. A parking area for the car is just up the road on the opposite side. I hiked the entire length of the Hoh-Bogachiel trail, also known as the ""South Snider-Jackson trail"" or ""Tumwata trail,"" the first day. The Park Service accurately classifies the Hoh-Bogachiel as a primitive trail, which presumably is shorthand for low maintenance priority. Generally speaking, the closer the hiker is to the Hoh Road at the south end, or the Bogachiel River at the north end, the better the trail's conditions. The middle portion of this 10-mile stretch is fairly rough going. It is, nonetheless, through exquisitely wild and beautiful forest. Oxalis covers the ground in incredible abundance the entire distance, even on the ridge top. After the first couple of miles above the Hoh, brush closes in on the trail, at times partially obscuring it. The ferns and the oxalis are no problem, but the salmonberry and hemlock saplings are a hassle to push through. Add to that a moderate-to-high number of trees down across the trail, some of them big, and you get an idea of the difficulty involved. There are a few places where the route can be lost, though it never took more than a few seconds of detective work to locate the proper course again. Carry a good topo map and familiarize yourself with the terrain prior to departing. Even when the trail is very faint, however, one is unlikely to become overly lost, as it mostly follows the top of the ridge (after ascending to it up a spur). The trail is also very narrow on some steep slopes, necessitating careful footing. Carry lots of water, as there is none available for the entire 10 miles. Upon the beginning of the descent to the Bogachiel Valley on a spur above Tumwata Creek, blow-down thankfully ceases almost entirely, though the trail retains its other aforementioned characteristics. It took me about 7 hours of hiking to make it from the Hoh River to the Bogachiel River. Tumwata Creek must be forded (very easy) just prior to reaching the Bogachiel. I was happy, though covered with sweat and hemlock needles. I then proceeded to embark on the way trail upriver for a mile to the Flapjack ford. En route, the way again crosses the Tumwata, and for the most part I lost the trail thereafter. Yet it is simple enough to follow game trails and the river's gravel bar to the ford. Cross the Bogachiel just above where the river swings a bit to the south. The Bogachiel is amazingly easy to cross during this time of year. I camped at the Flapjack site. The next day, I hiked the Bogachiel trail downstream four miles to camp at the junction with the Indian Pass (Rugged Ridge) trail. This section of the Bogachiel trail has some encroaching brush and a few minor blow-down, but is in pretty good shape. Day 3 found me hiking over low Indian Pass (with its unusually impressive grove of Pacific silver fir) to camp on the South Fork Calawah. I had to make another easy ford to reach the little campsite on the opposite side of the Calawah. Although mosquitoes were present my entire trip, they were especially thick here, and I was forced to build a rare campfire to subdue them a little. After I had some good wood smoke going, I was able to relax and enjoy this gorgeous little rain forest valley, and was visited by an eagle, kingfishers, a dipper, and bats. The Indian Pass trail to the South Fork also has only minor blow-down, but is somewhat more brushy and narrow than the Bogachiel trail. Rotten puncheon foot bridges require stepping with care. The trail leading on from the South Fork to Rugged Ridge has virtually disintegrated near the campsite, but improves after climbing above the river flat. On Day 4, I retraced my steps the three and a half miles to the Bogachiel trail, followed it two miles upstream, and utilized the lower ford to reach an alternative way trail that delivers one back to the Hoh-Bogachiel trail. A tree with a bright orange marker is easily seen on the Bogachiel trail where one should make the ford. Note that this ford is approximately three miles downstream of the earlier Flapjack ford. This time, the ford was much deeper, but the current was completely slack. I'd suggest crossing a few feet downstream of the orange marker where it's a bit shallower. More detective work was needed to find the way trail on the opposite side, but I eventually located it. It heads upstream for a mile and a half through rather open woods, most of the time covered in ferns or salmonberry. Blow-down is moderate and route-finding demands close attention, with a bit of trial-and-error involved. If in doubt, stay close to the river and follow it up. Eventually, I reached the meadowy area that I recalled seeing near the end of Day 1 when I finally reached the Bogachiel, and the beginning/end of the Hoh-Bogachiel trail (small sign here). There is decent, albeit unofficial, camping here, so I set up my tent in a grassy area. This way, I had only the 10 mile hike up and over to the Hoh on the final Day 5. No official campsite in the vicinity offered this small luxury. Not that I expected to bother anyone -- in the entire trip, I briefly encountered only one small group of people on the evening of Day 2. Otherwise, it was just me and the elements. To sum up, if you're a lover of the deep woods, orienteering, physical exertion, and solitude, this may be the trip for you. I came away quite moved by the regal quality of the seemingly endless forest and its sparkling rivers. In closing, I would like to propose that the U.S. Forest Service study the possibility of re-establishing the portion of the Snider-Jackson trail that formerly ran through the old Soleduck district. It was decimated many years ago by logging roads and clearcutting, and now no longer exists outside Olympic National Park. Such a trail, which would stretch from the Soleduck River on national forest lands to the park's Rugged Ridge trail (and onward to the Hoh via the route I took), would have great historical and recreational merit.

I'd say this was the trip from hell, but I don't think any place associtated with hell could be this wet. My luck started out ok, the weather on the morning ferry to Kingston was beautiful; perfect mixture of clouds and sun. Had a few rain showers on the drive over the north end of the Olympic Penninsula, but nothing serious. The town of Forks doesn't have a Mcdonnalds or fast food of any kind. This was a disturbing sign of bad things to come.

Hiking here is always fun and different, especially coming out. You start out on a nature trail and get to meet lots of tourists who don't know there is a true hiking adventure just feet away. People give lots of funny looks. The trail here stays in a deep valley forest for 12 miles before it even starts to gain significant elevation. Many would say this is boring and useless. But what a forest! There are consistantly massive Sitka Spruce and Western Redcedar, and higher up, HUGE Western Hemlock and average Douglas Fir. Down low is the temperate rain forest with a surprizing number of deciduous trees draped with foot thick moss near the river. It is extremely rare (if not unheardof) to find such a valuable big timber valley in it's pristine state. Just keep repeating that to yourself as the pack straps dig into your shoulders and hips along mile after mile.

Fortunatly (or unfortunatly) for me, the rain didn't come until I had finished my hiking the first day so my stuff didn't get wet, but I was also committed to the trip. The sprinkles did start when I stopped to rest at 5 mile island, but the trees weren't wet and dripping, so it wasn't a problem.

The great tread continues to about 5 mile island (the destination of many dayhikers). From here, it is still generally flat and easy (much better than most trails I'm used to) but hasn't seen maintinance as recently. I camped both nights at Olympus Guard Station, 9.1 miles from the trailhead. Now there's an oddity, at least for those used to Cascade trails. A staffed ranger station in the backcountry! Olympic National Park is weird. The cabin does somewhat defeat the wild nature of hiking, but it is a nice insurance policy if something goes wrong. I hear there is another similar one all the way at the end of the trail at Glacier Meadows.

I really have to say: Olympic National Park got it right. It successfully balanced wildness with tourist accessibility. North Cascades Ntnl Pk really needs to learn a lesson here. Why doesn't it charge user fees to get in'

So, the rain started Wednesday evening. I went to sleep early in hopes that I would get up early for my long day hike to Glacier Meadows the next day. Unfortunatly, it rained all night, and continued off and on in the morning. I had come prepared for rain; lots of warm, dry clothes and rain gear. So I decided to go ahead with my dayhike; if nothing else. for a good workout.

The first three miles from Olympus were flat and easy, and despite light rain, weren't a problem. As soon as I started climbing, I found myself drenched in sweat and condensation. I really really need some breathable rain gear. Even though there was rain, I found it to be not very cold at all. This, combined with extremely humid conditions made for miserable travel. The crossing above the dramatically reduced Hoh River is pretty cool. The large steel deck bridge is maybe 60-70 feet above the river deep in it's gorge. This is what the Olympics are all about.

Now the trail becomes steep, and it felt like a really long way to Elk Lake. This is where it started to feel like the trip from hell. I couldn't stop moving for long or I'd get cold. I had warm clothing with me, but couldn't put it on because it'd get wet. To add some more misery, I found that the waterproofing agent that I applied to my boots a few days before, didn't waterproof. My feet were so wet after a few mud puddles that I could hear the water sloshing around inside. Now enter blister country.

I stopped at Elk Lake (very disappointing ""subalpine lake"") to get a bite to eat. I then decided not to continue to Glacier Meadows because that would add an extra 5 miles to my dayhike (about 16 miles total). Even Elk Lake was hopelessly fogged in and reports from others held that it was worse up there. My feet were already getting sore and blistered, so I turned around. I am glad I did. Long 5.5 miles back to campsite and then dry, warm, food, sleep...

Went to bed at 7:30 on Thursday for a lack of anything better to do. Some hiking companions would have been really nice on this trip. Woke up a couple times during the night. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. Morning, rain. Well, at least I was leaving. No dry hiking clothes, so wet clothes on and no stops on the way to the car. I did have to stop at [not so] Happy Four Emergency Shelter to adjust clothes and drink water. Still, I did the 9.1 miles in about three and a half hours. I don't know what my pack weighed, but my tent and some other small stuff was soaked through, so prabably 50-55 pounds. Not so fun. Lots of funny looks from tourists (the rain had stopped by then and the sky was clearing; of course).

You can't believe how much I was looking foreward to fast food in Port Angeles. It lived up. The weather was pretty nice in Port Angeles so I tried to go up Hurricane Ridge, but the ranger at the entrance station said it was fogged in. What's the point' I turned around.

So, maybe this trip wasn't the greatest hike I've ever been on, but I'm sure it was worth the experience. I'll just have to wait a few decades till I look back upon it fondly.

Suggestions: Don't come here in the rain! (unless you're dayhiking). If you can, try to make it to the campsite at 12(.8') miles (the end of the flat part) if you're on a three day trip to Glacier Meadows. This way, the dayhike will be more relaxed. The elevation and distance from here will be about the same as Mt. Si. Also, this site is more private than the extremely popular Olympus Guard Station Campground.

The Hoh River trail is in excellent condition and has reaped the rewards of outstanding work by the recent trail crew. Much work has been spent in re-routing a section of trail, as well as raising a long section of it between 5 Mile Island and Olympic Guard Station. Just before Glacier Meadows the trail traverses some avalanche gullies and is very thin. In fact, it is more a goat trail and caution must be taken. The original trail has slid out. Also there is sign at the trailhead warning of a recent cougar kill at the 14.3 mile mark, a cow elk who's carcass has been hid only 25' off the trail. Warning: it is no longer fresh! You don't have to look for the landmarks posted as your nose will pick up on it about 1/4 mile before you get there! There is also the usual bear hanging around Glacier Meadows, very accustomed to people.

Snow begins immediately above Glacier Meadows and lasts all the way to the moraine, though it is easily travelled.

Our first night was spent at Elk Lake, 15.5 miles in. It is a long haul with 65 lb. packs (8 lbs. of camera gear, ~18 lbs. of climbing gear). We were drizzled on all night long and hoped we could climb out of the clouds the next day. We did.

We spent our second night bivied near the base of Panic Peak on Snow Dome. As always, the views were fantastic as the evening sun set! Many photo opps. The direct routes up Mt. Olympus are gone, as the bergschrund stretches completely across the glacier. This includes the Fourth of July route. Crystal Pass is the only route going, which is fine because it is the most scenic anyway! Conditions on the glacier were excellent, with only a few crevasses open on Snow Dome, and safe snow bridges below Crystal Pass. There are currently no moats in the snow bowl below the summit block, so the transition from snow to rock is trouble-free.

After summiting on our third day, we collected our gear and beat it down to Olympic Guard Station, making for almost a 13 hour day. We were tired, needless to say. This long day allowed us to to arrive back at the car before noon on the fourth day, so it was considered to be worth it (except by our feet!).

Now is the perfect time for an ascent of Mt. Olympus, 48 miles round trip to the summit and a true test for any soul's poor feet! Mine should be back to operational mode within a few days...

Don Geyer

For those of you just looking to see what the conditions are I can tell you that the trail was snow and mud free (following a dry week) until Glacier Meadows. There is a lot of snow still in the meadow and there are no flowers are in bloom yet. Travel beyond the ranger ‘tent’ is challenging and requires the proper knowledge and equipment.

For those who want to know more, read on…

We have been avid day hikers for years and we decided to make an attempt at real backpacking. We had done some overnight hikes before but had never gone more than six miles with a full pack. So we took a Friday off of work and spent the long weekend deep in the Hoh Rainforest.

I had heard a lot about this place before this trip so my expectations were pretty high. Initially I was disappointed, as I expected a denser forest where ‘snow never reaches the ground' as the brochure said. Besides being fairly open, the trees weren't all that big, some were but they were spread out and none match the big spruce tree on the road up.

I had read recent reports saying that the trail was really muddy, I had on my 'Gore Tex leg warmers' but they were never needed. The trail was well maintained as the first four miles were mostly on a gravel boardwalk.

The river made an appearance every once in a while, a grayish blue color, possibly dulled by cloudy skies, and then disappeared for a long time.

We eventually came across some big trees, actually blow downs that fell across the trail. The biggest one, a freshly cut Douglas Fir was covered in graffiti when we passed by it a second time, two days later.

At Five Mile Island the forest opened up even more with large grassy clearings. The clearings were sprinkled with bright yellow flowers (two different kinds) and little white suds which we think were insect nests. The trail itself was littered with little black slugs, so many at one point it looked as if someone has spilt a box of licorice babies.

The forest eventually filled in again as ferns took over from the grass and moss took over everything else. At Happy Four Camp there was one huge tree that had so much moss hanging from it you would swear it was some sort of prehistoric mammal.

Our first day ended when we reached broad open meadow that has the Olympic Guard Station. Set against the backdrop of a towering cliff whose forest was striped naked and killed by a fire back in 1978. There was a decent sized crowd there as most of the designated sights were taken. We were even visited by a few friendly deer. One was a doe who had two nursing fawns.

Not long after we broke camp the next morning we came across two giant Sitka Spruce that bisected the trail, like sentinals they guarded the entrance to an enchanting part of the forest. Huge trees were more common, the canopy was fuller, and everything seemed more 'lush' than the previous nine miles.

Earlier this year someone reported a segment of the trail that was heavily eroded and little more than roots that hung over the edge of a bluff. That portion has since been rerouted.

Just past Lewis Meadow you encounter the largest tree(s) on the entire trail. Three Western Red Cedars have grown into a boreal menage-a-trois.

There is a campsite at 12.4 miles that signals the change from level, river walking to steep switchbacking. The river, which was seen occasionally across a broad gravel bar narrows, as the valley walls become steeper. Eventually you cross the river on the High Hoh Bridge as the trail starts to follow Glacier Creek.

A mile and a half farther down the trail you can sort of make out a waterfall. Right afterwards you cross the creek on a log and come to Martin Creek Camp. A few minutes later you reach Elk Lake where the trail gets a little rougher.

About a mile before Glacier Meadows you reach the first of the avalanche chutes. I was warned about these from the ranger who gave me the permits. I can see that they would be dangerous when covered with snow but they are not much of a big deal now. Across the valley you can see the White Glacier (I am sure you can see more but it was cloudy).

The first patch of snow we came across was only a few feet from the sign announcing your arrival in Glacier Meadows. There is a lot of snow still in the meadow, we tried to hike the terminal trail to the Blue Glacier and didn’t get very far. We had better luck on the Moraine trail but it crosses a steep snowfield and lacking the proper gear and a reason (it was really cloudy) we didn’t go any farther. There were a few snow free patches where shoots were just beginning to poke through. It will be at least two weeks before there are a significant amount of flowers here.

A mixed bag overall but any day hiking is still better than a good day working.

Happy Hiking

David & Karen

I decided to experience the rain in all its glory in the Hoh Rainforest. The rainforest did not let me down; it rained, alot. What better place to test my new tent and boots'

Headed out Friday morning in a steady drizzle. The trail is nicely maintained. Especially so close to the visitor center just in case the auto-tourists should venture out from their cars and see the ""backcountry"". None of them did this morning. The trail was virtually all mine with a few other packers interspersed along the way. Four men were hiking at a furious pace to climb Mt Olympus regardless of the weather. I ran into one of them hiking out the next day. He alluded that the weather was far to sketchy to be up on the mountain, but his buddies were still up there checking out the glacier. Their car was still in the parking lot when I got back - I hope their adventure was a safe one.

The trail meanders up the Hoh River valley, maintaining a level grade. Giant spruce, hemlock, tremendous cedars and some Doug Fir line the path, offering respite from the rain. Dense, lush, and incredibly tranquil. I hiked with the rythm of the rain, punctuated by the calls of many birds. It was mesmerizing. There are numerous single camps along the way, marked with posts declaring the mileage at that point. Several larger camps, Five Mile Island, Happy Four, etc. are also available for stops. I chose Olympic Guard Station, 9.1 miles in. On Friday I shared the camp with one couple. It was idyllic. The sound of the rain and river lured me to sleep despite the throbing of my blistered feet. The boots won that day, inflicting silver dollar-sized wounds on my heels and another on my big toe. Blisters be damned! I was not going to sit in my tent all day on day 2 so I left my dry tent (tarp helped keep the rain out of the half-fly tent) and headed up river to the High Hoh bridge, 13 miles. There is a section of trail that is perilously close to tumbling 30 feet down into the Hoh. It is possible to look down to the river through the root system of a tree! Not a comforting section for those of us who are petrified of heights. The forest visibly changes with slight gains in elevation, becoming more evergreen and less dense in under growth. Hiked to the High Hoh Bridge (Snow White') and had a quick lunch. Awesome chasm 150' deep where the Hoh cuts through rock. I was impressed by this river. It was turbulent and powerful, flowing high with glacial runoff.

Second night, again, lulled to sleep by the rain. On the hike out, the trail was considerably more muddy after 2 1/2 days of rain. The mud was relentless - it sucked my boots in and caused much pain as I unsucked them out which yanked on my raw heels. I managed to limp the 9 miles back to the Visitor center, where I ran into a few day hikers braving the elements. All in all, the trip was a success. The tent, with a little tarp-help, was good in the steady rain. And despite the pain in my feet, I had a jolly good time communing with nature. The next time I hike this trail I will go in the late summer or fall and go to Glacier Meadows. Maybe by then the boots will finally be in proper condition.

Just a reminder to you guys that the rain forest and the ocean are out there waiting for you. It’s the perfect time of year - too early for most tourists, and there’s too much irritating slush in the Cascades. Snow has worn out it’s welcome. I wanted something different, so we went to the coast. The scent of dripping moss, skunk cabbage and one particular mysterious fragrance I wasn’t able to identify permeates the rain forest. Pink and yellow flowers are in bloom, skunk cabbage is everywhere (“pink”and “yellow” are about as technical as I care to get – they’re flowers – they have petals and stems, and they come out each year). Too early for ‘shrooms, I guess.

The trail is in good condition, flat, just right for families. We saw a herd of Roosevelt elk along the Hoh River Rd. (herd' band' covey' flock' these technical terms kill me...). It’s also interesting to see so many people from all over the world in that remote corner of the world. Most are in fine leather loafers and plaid cotton jackets. I couldn’t figure out how one woman, 3 miles in, kept her sneakers so annoyingly, blindingly bright and white. Quite a shock in the dark woods amongst all the greens and browns.

Only a few cars in the parking lot when I arrived at 0900. Weather was cold and clear and made for a nice hike. Trail is in good shape, only one small bridge over a side channel collapsed at about the 2.5 mile mark. Lots of elk sign but no elk spotted. Turned around at Tom Creek Meadows at the 3 mile mark. An eagle flying upriver capped off an enjoyable day.

When we arrived at the Hoh Visitor Center parking lot at 9 a.m. on this beautiful Saturday, there were no other cars there, and even the overnight parking lot was empty. Could this be the off-season' We hiked up to Five Mile island and back. The trail is in very good condition, if you don't count mud and standing water as there was some of both. We saw salmon in the creek on the nature trail, and one about 18 inches long in a stream about 3 miles in. There was a doe sunning herself at Five Mile Island, and not about to move just 'cause we were there. We saw only one other hiker all day, and the parking lot had about six vehicles in it when we got back about 2 p.m.

Made the trip from the Hoh River trailhead to Bogachiel Peak via the Hoh Lake trail. No great need to describe the river trail in any detail. Suffice to say it was in good shape, busy, and beautiful. After camping the first night at Olympus guard station, we ventured up and up and up the Hoh Lake trail. The first half mile or so is more of the lovely rainforest that is so ubiquitous on the river trail. We then worked our way up switchbacks to the top of the ridge. The trail meanders in and out of the remains of a 1978 forest fire. The regenerating trees are not yet quite large enough to provide good shade. Good views down to the river, both upvalley and downvalley. Raptors and ptarmigan noted our presence. After attaining the ridge, the trail penetrates dark and wet montane forest, gradually transitioning to subalpine country, as it contours the upper portions of the Hoh Lake Creek basin. There are slightly more than a dozen trees down on this stretch, though only two are difficult to get over with a full pack. A last round of switchbacks precedes Hoh Lake, a full 3600 feet above the river back at the trail junction. The lake is still three-quarters frozen, with large broken trees resting on its ice. We camped here in complete solitude, which I thought was amazing for Labor Day weekend. Mounts Olympus and Tom were visible for a while before fog, wind, and rain rolled in. A bear grazed in the meadow nearby. A frisky blacktail buck entertained several does. The next morning, I briefly separated from my hiking companions to make the short trip up to Bogachiel Peak. The weather was poor, with horizontal rain. My ice axe was needed on two fairly small but steep snowfields on the way up. Otherwise, it was easy. Bogachiel Peak was very different than what I experienced two summers ago while backpacking the High Divide/Seven Lakes basin area. Instead of views, sun, and concerns about heat exhaustion as in '97, this time I had a view of only 100 meters or so and thought more about hypothermia. Very surreal. The Soleduck side of High Divide is still buried in snow. I wouldn't dream of approaching from that side right now. I passed one other hiker from there, all the way back to the river trail. We camped at 8-mile island the final night, and had the pleasure of seeing two bull elk, both with their harems of cows, bugling their way across the river near our tents within five minutes of one another.

Hoh River-Mount Olympus Area-Bailey Range Traverse, 7/19-26/99 Three of us completed a traverse of three Mt. Olympus glaciers and the Bailey Range Traverse. We entered at the Hoh Valley Visitor Center and exited the trip by way of Seven Lakes Basin and the Canyon Creek Trail to the Soleduck Trailhead. Day 1 - Mon. 7/19 - Began our trip at 11am after our support team dropped off a car at the Soleduck trailhead and then us at the Hoh trailhead. We filed a trip plan with the ONP rangers at the Hoh with tentative campsite locations for the next seven nights. The trail along the Hoh is in excellent shape with minimal mudholes. The day was sunny and warm. We arrived at mile 12.4 around 6pm, Stove Hill Camp. We would be using a coated nylon-type tarp with bivy sacks for shelter to save the weight of carrying a tent. Day 2 - Tues. 7/20 - Left Stove Hill Camp about 6:30am for Glacier Meadows. Trail in good shape. Snow in open forest and meadows below GM. Flagged so could generally be followed without much trouble. No snow at cliffy areas just below GM. Rangers working on trail this side of last gully. Some branch-thrashing because of snow just before GM. 8-10 ft. of snow at shelter in GM. If had to, could just ‘slide’ down into the shelter from the roof line. Ascended to the moraine south of GM for first view of the Blue Glacier. Some crevasses showing but appeared, and found to be, narrow and filled in. Roped up and headed for Glacier Pass. Straight line route with no crevasse passage difficulties. Very warm sun. Cool and breezy at Glacier Pass. Descended to the Hoh Glacier just south of Glacier Pass. Didn’t have crampons so knew descending from here in the morning would be difficult, if not dangerous. Again, no crevasse problems on the Hoh. Traversed to Camp Pan on rock outcrop above the east flank of the Hoh Glacier. Rock was bare with a snow melt stream running for fresh water. Day over at 5:30pm. Day 3 - Wed. 7/21 - Left Camp Pan at about 8:30am. Sunny and clear. Ascended snowfield above camp roped with plans for descending the Humes Glacier. Reached Blizzard Pass in about 45 min. Great views to southeast and Queets Basin. No difficulties with the glacier. Toe of glacier completely blanketed with snow so a direct descent of the toe was accomplished over moderate snow without having to circumvent bare slabby cliffs normally present. Unroped here. Dropped down gully with avalanche debris (lots of tree debris) to 3500’. Ascended a steep, short snow finger changing to roots/rocks/mud to gain meadows/open forest above northeast side of gully. Easy traverse to Queets Basin. Crossed river on good snow bridge. Climbed to 4700’ level - Dodwell-Rixon Pass area. Established camp on bare ground just north of the pass overlooking the basin with a great view of the Humes Glacier and the Olympus massif. Camp set up around 4:30pm. Day 4 - Thurs. 7/22 - Left Queets Basin camp about 7am. Another sunny and clear day. Ascended to low area between Mt. Barnes and Bear Mt. Found water running through open area just below the saddle. Climbed to snow on south shoulder of Bear Mt. Traveled easily along spine of the range to Lone Tree Pass, just south of Mt. Pulitzer. Several bare ground sites available. Necessary to melt snow for water. Camp established about 3:30pm. Day 5 - Fri. 7/23 - Sunny and cool. Left camp about 7am. Climbed shoulder of Mt. Pulitzer and descended through Ferry and Upper Cream Lake basins. Gained low point of ridge southeast of Mt. Stephen for reconnaissance of possible route to basin east of Mt. Stephen. Decided to keep to west side of ridge (normal Bailey route) due to lack of knowledge of alternative and possible avalanche danger near shoulder of Mt. Stephen. Descended Cream Lake Basin to lake. Some difficulty finding route through the basin because of snowbanks along creek and the meandering nature of the creek itself. Set up camp around 4:30pm. Water dipped from lake outlet stream (Cream Lake Creek). Weather appears to be changing. Clouds of various formations at several levels forming. Does not appear to be an organized system. Day 6 - Sat. 7/24 - Woke to clouds and drizzle. Left camp @ 7:30am. Dropped to meadow area north of lake. Began ascent of avalanche gully toward Mt. Stephen to gain the 5300’ level for traverse of the ridge. Observed massive destruction of whole stands of trees. Several areas here had trees snapped off 15-20 feet above the ground. Snow must have avalanched all at once with a very heavy structure from the southwest faces of Mt. Stephen. One debris path reached all the way to Cream Lake (had to find our way through yesterday). The avalanche gully we climbed was filled in well and safe, although, steep. Had been ‘flushed out’ several times. Steps held well. Exited left and up through thinly forested area at head of gully. Reached 5300’ level in the clouds. Visibility is less than a 1/4 mile. Traversed all day through basins, over small shoulders, and some open slope areas. Expected to come across Eleven Bull Basin. Never could see well enough to know. Could have been disguised because of snow. Continued at 5300’ until we encountered large, deep gullies near Mt. Carrie. When we came upon a particularly deep and wide gully we couldn’t see across (except for a brooding shadow), we decided to climb above the difficulties. 1300’ vertical feet later we had climbed out out the cloud to a beautiful sunlit vista of Olympus and the higher Olympic peaks. Established camp at 8:30pm at the 6600’ level just south of the Mt. Carrie summit and at the head of the Carrie Glacier. Well-established bivy site complete with flat ground and rock windbreaks. Awesome views of surroundings as we ate a very late supper and watched the sun go down. Day 7 - Sun. 7/25 - Weather returns to sun and clear skies at our level but the Hoh Valley is blanketed with fog and clouds. Left camp @ 9am. Climbed the head of the Carrie Glacier to the summit area and bagged it. Descended the long, ragged ridge toward Boston Charlie’s Camp. Hard snow and chossy rock made the ridge time-consuming. Descended the climber’s track easily to BC Camp. Pond is melted out and one campsite available. Proceeded onto the Catwalk. Completely clear of snow. No particular difficulties except for the rough construction of this aréte. Lots of ducking, twisting, sliding, and cursing. Once we ascended the other side, we again descended looking for the way trail extension of the High Divide trail. We hoped with the southwest exposure that it would be melted out and clear but snow accumulation between trees in haphazard patterns made it clear this was going to take a lot longer than we hoped. We retreated and ascended the south spur of Cat Peak to the summit area. We dropped through meadows, brush, and thick trees to the snow-covered meadows on the divide south of Cat Basin. We had some trouble keeping to the divide at certain places because of spur ridges and contouring around knobs. We could most often find an open area to check our bearing since we could recognize the ridge that would lead us over an intersecting ridge into the upper reaches of Soleduck Park. Eventually, we found some water running in a tree well and replenished our low stock of water. We climbed the ridge south of Heart Lake on the High Divide, traversed to just above the lake and set up camp on snow at 7:30pm with no flat, bare ground to be seen anywhere. Day 8 - Mon. 7/26 - Weather is clear and sunny. Left camp at 7am headed ‘for the barn’ - the hot pools and grill food at Sol Duc Resort. Followed the High Divide route to above Seven Lakes Basin on snow shoulders on the north side of the divide. The cornice accumulations and snow banks on many of the north sides made for easy ‘highways’ for walking. Most were flat and large enough so we didn’t have to walk anywhere near the edge of the snow where a cornice collapse would catch us doing something dumb. We dropped into the easily recognizable Seven Lakes Basin. We descended to Lunch Lake, traversed the south side and headed for what we hoped was the normal trail approach to the basin. Everything is still snowed in and iced up except for Round Lake. Very little bare ground visible. As it happened, we hit the trail right on. We had hoped that someone had visited the basin recently so route-finding would be simplified but it was not to be. Our job was not done yet. As we all had been to this area many times before, collectively, we deciphered the short sections of trail that were exposed and found the long traverse above Bogachiel Basin. Through the trees was difficult because of the uneven melt out. The open slopes still had a couple feet of snow although in one section the trail was clear for perhaps a hundred yards. When it appeared that the trail disappeared around a spur and entered the forest for an extended period, we climbed to the top of the ridge to find a view of distant Deer Lake. We had heard Deer Lake was melted out, and we found that to be a confirming factor of this landmark. A direct descent to the lake was inadvisable because of thick woods and steep terrain. We dropped to the meadowland in the area of The Potholes on the High Divide trail and began to contour to the north which generally follows the structure of the trail. As we entered the forest, we found more exposed parts of the trail. From then it was pretty much following a gently descending contour and our noses to Deer Lake. We had finally returned to the fringes of civilization when the ranger popped out of the privy at Deer Lake with a “Where have you guys been'”. We had not seen another person (except for the helicopter travelers passing by Cream Lake) since noon last Tuesday when we saw climbers returning from the Snow Dome route on Mt. Olympus - six days. We proceeded down the Canyon Creek trail to Soleduck Falls and on to the trailhead where friends and family were there to greet us and celebrate our accomplishment. Notes - Route-finding: We found that four factors were extremely important in finding our way; 1) our previous experiences in these areas (we had all done parts of the trip before); 2) a use of map and compass for identifying landmarks mostly. We all knew how to do this so collective input was valuable. We generally all agreed where we were most of the time; 3) the use of an altimeter. We all had them and knew how to use them. We kept checking for any weird readings that may indicate reading changes due to weather, and we reset them as often as we could when an identifiable landmark was reached. Exact elevation was not super important but we were always within a hundred feet or so; 4) background information from guides and others’ accounts. We found guides are not always written with all the details you might need but landmark references are pretty accurate, route descriptions less so. Wildlife: We saw several bear. All kept a a very healthy distance from us, and if we got within a couple hundred yards they were taking off in the opposite direction. We also saw only evidence of cougar, elk and deer. Several adult and juvenile goats on the slopes of Mt. Carrie. They didn’t seem to care we were there but they kept an eye on us. Not as many marmots as we have seen before. Many dens are still covered with snow. Some have dug their way out and have made distinctive den entrances. We were glad to see that the wildlife was wary of us. We would much rather have them be free from human influence and interference. As such, we were always careful to not leave garbage or to leave food that may attract wildlife. As would be a fitting final understatement, it was quite an adventure. For further information contact Mike at mdraymond@waypt.com.

Looking for snow free hiking I went as far as the Hoh river and found just that. I only hiked as far as 5 mile island and stayed the night.The trail is in good shape with only a few muddy spots and a couple of small stream crossings. New gravel has been spread on much of the trail. Park rangers advised snow above 1400ft. Be cautious of cow elk with calf.

The Hoh River trail is now open to stock use and in good shape for the first nine miles to Olympus Guard Station. The park trail crew will be clearing the trail to snow line in the near future. Snow line remains below Elk Lake.

Snow become solid but hard below 2000' elevation, about one half mile above the High Hoh Bridge. The trail has been damaged damaged by avalanches in several places a mile above the bridge. There is steep hard snow in the switchbacks below Elk Lake. The lake is frozen and covered with snow seven to ten feet deep. A dead (stinky) goat is reported in the shelter at Hoh Lake. Above the lake, the trail is completely obscured by snow ten feet or more in depth. Recommended to be expert in map and compass, and carry an altimeter for travel beyond the lake. There are many avalanches that have come down across the trail above Hoh Lake and there is no sign or clue of where the trail is. Near Jemrod Creek, travel is along a cliff on very steep and exposed terrain; belaying is recommended. Snow depth is over fifteen feet near Glacier Meadows. Avalanche hazard above Glacier Meadows.

There is a forty foot long washout of the Hoh Trail just upstream of the junction with Hoh Lake Trail. Six big trees were undercut by the river and took the trail out with their rootwads when they fell. The washout can be skirted without major problems, but the snow above Olympus Guard Station is reported to be deep and collapsing.

The Hoh trail is in
great shape, a good thing as it is 18.2 miles long! It is hard to get lost in the maze around the visitor area, but the crowds may cause confusion. We can vouch that the Lewis Meadow camp is very pleasant, out on the sandbar. The trail starts gaining elevation after the stunning bridge over the Hoh, and continues past the last ranger station at 17 miles. The way gets steep and rocky to the moraine, and the descent to the Blue Glacier is a controlled rock slide. We spent a couple nights at Camp Pan (Camp Pain), which for some reason, none of the 4 Rangers we talked to seemed to know anything about (all the rangers were amazingly clueless about climbing routes and conditions). Too bad- the camp has spectacular sunrises. Us Boealper Eggplants were attempting the summit traverse from the East to West peaks. There is a huge crevasse on the Hoh Glacier around the East Peak that needs to be crossed far to the left- we saw a party try to go straight up and they got skunked. We skipped the East Peak after a long 5.2 scramble up the Middle Peak, with a couple adventures on the way down. The route from the Middle to West Peak can not be discerned from this direction, and we had to go back. The path up the West Peak from Snow Dome is pretty straight forward, until the false summit where the moat is melting into a icy hazardous mess. The snow wall to the summit is strikingly steep, but there is a solid set of steps to slowly ascend and descend. The normal route is probably unreachable due to snow melt, and we worked our way up along the right side, up to 5.6 difficulties. Bring lots of slings and pro- as the summit register said, ""what easy route'!"". Bears were spotted on the way down the Hoh, but none bothered us at the horse camp below Glacier Meadows. We did the last 15.5 miles in 5.5 hours, terrifying the tourists. Oh, my feet.

I spent Saturday, May 8 through
Tuesday May 12 on the Hoh river trail. Camped at the Olympus Guard Station (ranger station) Saturday and Sunday. Trail in good condition. Didn't run into many people. There were only two other campers at the ranger station. The hike to the ranger station is very pleasant. The meadows are in good shape and the flowers are beginning to bloom. Second day without rain. The meadow at the ranger station is full of deer. Sunday evening and Monday morning I counted at least nine. Spoke with four hikers who reported a mother bear with cub in the Elk Lake area. Monday morning hiked to Elk Lake. It had rained overnight but was dry again Monday. About 2/3 of the way from the foot bridge to Elk Lake but before Martin Falls I ran across the mother bear and single cub. They were below the trail from me. The cub peaked at me from around a tree it had scaled. I made my way around them and continued on. It was cold at the Lake and I was glad I had brought my gloves and hat. On the way back from the Lake I rounded the trail and approximately 100 feet in front of me on the trail were the mother bear and cub. She looked at me and decided to continue straight into the forest rather than up the trail. She didn't seem that concerned about me. The cub, however, was very curious and stood up on its hind legs to look at me over Mom's shoulder. Monday night back at the ranger station was filled with more deer but no elk. Plenty of sunshine Tuesday as I made my way back to the trailhead at the Hoh Rain Forest Vistors Center. The meadow at File Mile Island was absolutely beautiful and I decided to eat my lunch there. Overall the trail is in good shape, the nights were mild from the ranger station and below and cooler at Elk Lake. No insect problem. I saw very few hikers (none at all on my way to and from Elk Lake). The only way to see this trail is during the week!

Day hike up the hoh. Went as far
as Happy Four. No blowdowns and trail was clear. Park has droped lots of planks along trail and plans to fix up bridges and puncheon. Saw the rear end of one elk. Reports of bears near Lewis meadows and mother with cub near high bridge. No problems.