I had some plans fall through and finally decided to tackle one of the “100 Classic Hikes” from the original Ira Spring book. It’s been on my list for a while, and it did not disappoint. I did this as a 2-night trip, camping at Lewis Meadow both nights.

Day 1: Hike to Lewis Meadow. The Hoh River Trail is flat as a pancake and an easy walk through the forest. Lewis Meadow itself has some beautiful campsites right by the river, plus a privy and a working bear wire (not always a guarantee in the Olympics as I’ve learned the hard way).

Day 2: From Lewis Meadow I hiked up to the lateral moraine. Past the High Hoh Bridge, the trail shifts character- it’s very steep! You don’t actually see Mt. Olympus until you’re up on the ridge before the ladder, and when she comes into view it’s jaw dropping. I actually gasped out loud.

The infamous ladder was much scarier than I expected. I had pictured climbing up, not realizing you have to climb down first. The trickiest part was backing down on the rope before getting onto the ladder itself. A few rungs are missing, which is awkward if you’ve got shorter legs. And since only one person can be on the ladder at a time, it could easily back up on a busy weekend (it wasn’t an issue for me on a Friday).

Glacier Meadows is pretty, though fairly standard subalpine forest. The real magic starts when you take the turnoff for the lateral moraine. After that, the “trail” disappears despite what Gaia might say. I scrambled up the boulders to the top of the moraine, and it was INCREDIBLE. The only comparison I can make is the Anderson Moraine—just on a much bigger scale. The Blue Glacier is staggering in size and beauty, but it’s also sobering to see how much it’s retreating. I stayed for over an hour just listening to the mountain crack and roar, and I could have stayed all day. Truly spectacular.

The hike back to Lewis Meadow was uneventful, and I found climbing up the ladder much easier than down.

Day 3: Hike out from Lewis Meadow back to the Hoh River trailhead. I was treated to tons of Elk bugling which was so cool to hear! 

Did this as a long day hike starting at 5:00 am and got back at 8:00 pm. The trail is in excellent shape and well maintained, maybe 5 downed trees across 19 miles. I started in the dark and was startled by a couple elk crashing through the forest. I only saw their eyes in my headlamp which was unnerving. A little while later I saw a large male elk which proceeded to just stare at me. At mile 8 there is 2 river crossings both of which can be avoided by using downed logs. The incline starts a little after Lewis Meadows and is never too bad except the last section from Glacier Meadows to the Moraine. There are some great views of Mt. Tom and White Glacier right before the ladder. It's crazy to think how much the glacier has receded from the LIA, in 1815 it was connected with Blue Glacier. The ladder is a bit tricky due to a couple missing rungs. There is a sign which just has an arrow at Glacier Meadows that indicates the way to the moraine. It's easy to miss and I spent some time wandering among the campsites. I arrived at the terminal Moraine at 1:00 pm and spent 45 min admiring the view. On the way down I encountered a bear bathing in the tarn. It was very cool to see, and I must say bears are much less intimidating than elk. It was in the way of the trail, but it eventually scampered off. At this point I was running low on time, so I picked up the pace and only took 3 short breaks on the way out. I saw two more male elk around 4 miles out from the parking lot. Stats 38 miles, 6300 ft of gain. 

2-night trip camping at Elk Lake the first night, visiting the glacier day 2, Happy 4 for the second night.

The campground at Elk Lake was completely full when I arrived around 7pm on Tuesday, couldn't find an established tent site and camped outside of the emergency shelter. The creek at Glacier Meadows seemed to be dried up, which maybe explains how busy Elk Lake was. Last good water source before the glacier was a few hundred feet before the rope ladder. 

Saw an Olympic marmot in the meadows, a bunch of sooty grouse, and several groups of elk along the Hoh. 

This one had been on my list for many years.  Finally was able to do it and the weather was perfect throughout.  A fantastic, magical, exhilarating trip!

Perspective:  I'm 65 y.o. and my wife is 62.  This was probably our most adventurous trip to date.  For the last 8 years we've done anywhere from 4-7 backpacking trips/year -- usually 2 night/3 day trips.

Itinerary: 

Day 1:  Level beautiful lush 9+ mile hike to Olympus GS. Little elev. gain. Started 8:30a and got to camp by 12:30p. Camped on the gravel bar with nobody else within view.  Crows were aggressive and kind of a pain at a site in the woods on the river so we went out into the river valley.  Beautiful sight as the sun rose at the end of the valley where we would be heading the next days.  Heavy dew soaked everything not covered.  

Day 2:  5.8 miles and 1750 elev. gain to Martin Creek. Trail continued to be level and easy walking up river to the 12.4 mile campsite, when it starts gaining  elevation.  

Had a beautiful site tucked in the woods and nobody else stayed there that night. Started 9:30a and got to site about 1p.  Nice day to chill before our trek to the glacier on Day 3.  Slept to sounds of Martin Creek.  Many folks on the trail had pretty strong feelings about how Elk Creek was too crowded, the lake was murky and not a good water source.  We were very glad to have stayed at Martin Creek as it is very close to Elk Lake.  No real diff as far as a jumping off place to reach the glacier, but very quiet and chill.

Day 3: Packed our backpacks for a day hike and left everything else in the tent.  Started out at 8:30 and got all the way to an amazing viewpoint looking out over the lateral moraine.  Epic hike!!  The rope/ladder adventure down the wash is very doable.  At the bottom of the wash you rejoin the trail by climbing right back up the side of the wash on the right.  It's very well marked.

Chose the lateral moraine because we were at the split above Glacier Meadows by 10:30a.  We went a fairly long way up the lateral moraine trail but split off the trail and headed up the ridge to the right for an amazing overlook of the entire glacier.  Lunch at the viewpoint.  

Headed back down to our Martin Creek camp and got there by about 2:30.  Took a short break, packed up and headed down to Lewis Meadow by about 3:15p.  Got to Lewis Meadow at 5:45p. 

Total of 6.4 mi. r/t up to glacier and back to Martin Creek and 2590 of elev. gain.  Then another 5 mi. down to Lewis Meadows, so 11.40 mi. total.  This was a long day, but so worth it!!

Grabbed a river front site in Lewis Meadow which we preferred to the Olympus GS sites.  There are a number of river front sites if you explore  downstream from where the main trail leads in... Very pretty camps here.

Day 4:  Took us 4.5 hours to get back to the TH from Lewis Meadows.  GAIA pegged it at 11 miles.  Total of about 37.5 miles total.  Highly recommend this hike!

Friday-Sunday (2 nights, 3 days) backpacking trip to Blue Glacier, including glacier travel.
Obstacles on trail:
-water crossing at around mile 7-8 (perhaps knee deep) or opt for the log crossing.

-the ladder on the approach to Glacier Meadows has several rungs out. This can be particularly challenging for shorter people!

Night 1: Elk Lake camp. Privy is new and operating! Group site is not very flat.

Night 2: Glacier Meadows. 2 great privies, but Jemrod Creek by the group site to the west side of camp is at a trickle but it is manageable to get enough water. Beware of floodable tent spots at this group site. Many sit in bowls— we woke up to 2-3in of water in an unexpected downpour in the night.

Our group’s original plan was to summit, but with lack of recent trip reports and it being such late season, we decided to postpone a summit trip. Instead we practiced glacier travel, ice axe arrests, and building anchors and rappelling into a crevasse on the glacier. The glacier has a lot of melt and large crevasses this time of year, so we stayed roped up.

During the night’s rain at GM, we heard what sounded like a large glacial release (sounded like thunder or an explosion).

Our only wildlife encounters were: a buck at Glacier Meadows, grouse along the Hoh River trail, and the sound of elk bugling. A large bear scat was found at our group site at GM.