Much of our trip was in rain, clearing up on the last day where we hiked out the whole 17 miles from Glacier meadows. The snow is all gone until you drop down off of the moraine onto the blue glacier. The forest is quite beautiful, the glacier is spectacular and worth the hike. The trail has deep mud in spots that is hard to get around. There are a couple of slightly tricky log/creek crossings that require good balance and careful footing. The ladder is still in place just before Glacier Meadows due to the earlier washout and that can be a bit tricky as well. The campsites and pit toilets are in good condition along the way and at Glacier Meadows.

So many others have been so eloquent about this popular hike that I'll just cut to the important basics: 1) The trail from the Hoh Ranger station to above the High Bridge (12 miles) has zero blowdowns. The broken bridge just before the Olympus ranger station has been fixed. There is only one possible ford, and its not bad. Overall, the trail is still quite muddy. We camped at: Happy Four (not a lot of sites), Elk Lake (boring), and Lewis Meadow (nice). 2) The trail through Martin Creek (just before Elk lake) has fresh blowdowns and is confusing. Just keep plowing straight ahead uphill through the campground. 3) The famous rope ladder above Elk lake is a little scary. Remember to go down it, then immediately back up to the elevation you started at. Gloves would be helpful. We went down it so early in the day that the wooden rungs were partly frozen, which was painful! 4) There is no significant snow on the trail until you've passed Glacier Meadows. Just after Glacier Meadows, there is a fork to the Lateral Moraine or the Terminal Moraine. I recommend the Terminal for most hikers. It's shorter and easier. We guessed Lateral, and you need to climb up 2 steep snowfields. This can be done without traction devices on your shoes, but do bring 2 poles and be careful. The view from there is stunning, and we saw a very inquisitive mountain goat. 5) The lower half of this trail is ridiculously crowded with rookies on a summer Saturday. Don't expect a camping site if you arrive late.

I hiked the first 9 miles to Olympus Guard Station on a very rainy Saturday, day-hiked to the Blue Glacier overlook a total of 18 miles roundtrip on Sunday, and I hiked 9 miles out on Monday. The trail is in good condition overall, with a handful of blow-downs posing little difficulty. There are several creek crossings requiring walking across logs and stones or possibly ankle deep fording in one or two instances, but again, nothing difficult. I was able to cross each creek without submerging my boots. The rope ladder and rope at the slide before Glacier Meadows are in place and in good shape. Nobody I encountered had any trouble negotiating it, however gloves might be helpful to grip the rope or ladder rungs if you're carrying a lot of weight. Just before Glacier meadows, insignificant and intermittent snowfields begin. Glacier Meadows camp is mostly free of snow, with some snowfields scattered about. You will have no problem finding a dry campsite. The final .5 miles of trail up alongside the moraine before the overlook has substantial snow fields. While not necessary for experienced hikers who are comfortable walking in snow, poles and traction will be helpful in this final section. There is a good boot path to follow as well, just be wary of some fast melting snow bridges where it looked like several people post-holed pretty deep. The moraine crest itself is snow free. Lots of snow still on the glacier, so you'll have to wait a little longer to see all of the blue!! This is one of my favorite hikes in Washington, and it was a lovely weekend. The rainforest is especially verdant this time of year, but the elk are all hiding away somewhere to have their babies. Thanks to all of the nice people I met along the way.

We went for a 3 day backpacking trip hoping to make it to blue glacier. It was a beautiful hike with views throughout the trail. Once we passed the last campgrounds before glacier Meadows, we started hitting a few patches of snow but it wasn't too difficult to cross. There were quite a few bridges out so we had to find alternative ways across many of the streams. We did the bulk of the miles - 19 - on Saturday and made it to the rope ladder. There had been a washout and the ladder was suspended several feet above the ground and from there, we were unable to determine where the trail picked back up again after depending the ladder due to heavier snow. We had called ahead and were told the snow line was much higher than it was, so we decided to turn back there and make our way back down as we hadn't brought any gear for snow. The trail had only been cleared a little ways past five mile so there were a quite few obstacles but overall it was fairly easy to travel. Absolutely beautiful views. We plan to take a glacier course and come back again when we can make it to and onto the glacier! This was my first backpacking trip ever and I survived almost the entire trail in 3 days.

I went on a overnight hike along the Hoh River Trail to Lewis Meadows Campgrounds. It was 10.5 miles out to the campground with fantastic views of the rainforest and Hoh River along the way. I could hear the Roosevelt Elk but never saw them. Trail only has a 400 foot gain in elevation but there is plenty of up and down through dry creek beds and several large logs to crossover so you don't get your feet wet. The logs are not ones set up by the park so there is more risk involved with no rails and slippery logs so be careful. I will admit though if you are going to do one hike in Olympic National Park then hike the Seven Lakes Basin and High Divide Trail. It has by far the best views of the park I have seen so far. I was too tired to hike further up to Glacier Meadows or up to Hoh Lake so I headed back the 10.5 miles back to trail head. Twenty miles in less than 24 hours just wore me out. Check out the videos of this hike or over 325 other hikes I have done mostly in Washington State on my you tube channel "lmm3181" or click on the links below for this hike. As always get out and see this beautiful state and enjoy your hiking!! Take Care Mike