I camped at Olympus Guard Station the first night, day-hiked to the lateral moraine overlook the second day, and I returned to the trailhead on the third. There are a few minor blowdowns past Five Mile Island, but the only technical obstacle is the slide at the second avalanche chute, less than half a mile from Glacier Meadows. The ladder is out, and I recommend gloves for the climb down and back up the rope. There is no snow all the way up to the moraine overlook and no snow on the descent to the glacier. The forest is at the height of spring, and the glacier is incredible. I spotted a single marmot above Glacier Meadows on the terminus trail!

With perfect weather last week, I went out to the Olympic Peninsula and did a four day backpack taking in the Hoh River Trail and the Seven Lakes Basin Loop. Day one: Hoh River Trail -> Glacier Meadows. Day two: Up to Blue Glacier and down and then back and up to Hoh Lake. Day three: From Hoh Lake to the High Divide Trail and counterclockwise around the loop, via Heart Lake, Sol Duc, and Deer Lake trails to, finally, Round Lake down in the Seven Lakes Basin. Day four: up from Round Lake to the High Divide and back down the Hoh Lake trail and out the Hoh River trail. About 75 miles altogether, with over 19,000' of elevation gain/loss. Each of these legs was between 17 and 20 miles long, but this isn't difficult terrain and I arrived at each of my camps by early afternoon, leaving plenty of time for exploring and rinsing off in the many lakes. All of my campsites required pre-registration, but I had no trouble reserving these sites in person at the Quinault Ranger station. Most of "must reserve" sites I passed weren't even close to full; Elk Lake was empty, for instance, both on my way up and on the way down, and I was the only camper at Round Lake. Hoh Lake and higher are all sites that require a bear can, which I also got from the ranger, but being used to ultralight backpacking this was a, er, bear to carry. The trails are all in great condition with a couple of very minor exceptions. The Hoh River trail suffered some kind of washout just before Glacier Meadows and the improvised boot track across the resulting scree slope is extremely narrow - no wider than my boot in most places. There is a bail-out rope ladder strung down the slope, though, so that offers an alternative if you don't like the look of the boot track. In any case, a slide there would be an inconvenience, maybe a minor injury, not a fatal exposure risk. There are also three or four large trees down over the Hoh Lake trail, but these can all be climbed over or, in one case, you go off the trail up the slope and over the tree that way. None of these blowdowns are insurmountable by any means. I dipped in Hoh Lake, Round Lake, and Lunch Lake. Of these Hoh was actually quite swimable. Round was very cold, Lunch a bit warmer, but both of those are suited more for a quick dip than a swim. Bugs were a constant annoyance but one expects this at late summer alpine lakes, of course. A much more pleasant constant was the berries; there are delicious ripe black huckleberries and oval-leaved blueberries all over the upper elevations, from Hoh Lake and higher, and lots of ripe salal on the way up the Hoh Lake trail. Plenty of red huckleberry too but I found these to be unusually sour. Go for the blues! This is one of the backpacking gems of the PNW and now's a good time to get up there. Not too crowded, ripe berries, and a lot of folks I met reported glimpsing bears and goats, which is a treat in these parts (I saw some deer at Glacier Meadows, but no bears or goats).

Hiked the Hoh River to Blue Glacier. Put this hike on your Bucket List before it's too late. Period. Many hues of green, spectacular old growth stands, dripping moss, nurse logs giving rise to full grown trees, gravelly river beds to wile away time, blue crevasses on white white snow, and bio-diversity seldom seen in such an easy backpacking trip. From rainforest to alpine meadow to dramatically flowing glacier, what more can one ask for in one, relatively quick trip? We preceded our hike with a night at Mora campground (NPS), a couple of miles from Rialto beach and enjoyed a night walk and sunset on the beach. The next day, we hiked the flat trail through delightful old growth to the 5.8 mile campsite near Happy 4 shelter. Five Mile Island and Happy 4 campsites were occupied by many folks who used them as destinations in themselves, spreading out as they do in car campgrounds with oversized tents, tarps, huge hammocks, and even axes to chop away at stumps left by trail maintenance, in order to have the best campfires. Too bad. Disturbing. We quickly moved to the opposite side of the Happy 4 campsites, tucked ourselves into the woods, and had dinner in a private section of riverbed, which we later found to be along the "elk highway." It rained all night just as we entered the tent to sleep and it stopped promptly at 5am. Passing through mile 9.1, the Olympic Ranger Station, we noted that many backpackers make this half-way marker their first campsite but, being retired, we were in no hurry. We passed the junction with the Hoh Lake trail, with nostalgia recalling our night with the bear at Hoh Lake years prior on the High Divide loop. Since we did not make reservations for the campsites closer to Blue Glacier, we decided to drop our packs and spend the second night at 13.3 campsite, just beyond Happy Ho bridge, with the idea of day hiking to Blue Glacier from there. Note that although the 13-mi campsites don't require reservations, 13.1 campsite has room only for a double tent with no vestibules and 13.2 has room for only a single tent, while 13.3 can accommodate a double tent plus a small single. After setting up for the night, we walked down to the bridge, which really is quite remarkable for its height. Although not nearly as beautiful, to me it appeared even higher than the bridge at the confluence of the Dosewallips River and its West Fork. Day 3 we day-hiked to Blue Glacier. Elk Lake-pond, along the way, is only a place to spend the night but would have made for a better day-hike distance to the glacier, although we did see a younger couple day hike all the way from the 9.1 guard station campsite (returning in darkness), which seemed much too far to really enjoy time at the glacier. Low-hanging clouds obscured all views until we reached the ridge above the lateral moraine of Blue Glacier, 1.3 mi from Glacier Meadow. Once there, we were awestruck, having expected only to see the snout of the glacier. Instead we saw endless deep crevasses tinged with blue and the sweep of the entire glacier from the dome of Olympus to the moraine, as though in movement as we watched. A truly spectacular and unexpected sight! Later on our descent from the glacier, the clouds parted to reveal the mountains above the long valley stretch, which we had missed on our long hike upward, and the origins of the Hoh River. Just around the corner from Glacier Meadow another glacier, White Glacier, appeared to stop abruptly, hanging precariously above the valley and giving off a waterfall and stream of water that merged with the flow from Blue Glacier. Later a ranger told us that in 1812 the two glaciers were merged at Elk Lake (hard to believe!). The same ranger told us that a couple who had hiked the Hoh for 40 yrs reported that during their early hikes the ridge where people view Blue Glacier was only 15 feet from the lateral moraine; it is considerably further from it now. Crossing the precarious area of washout a second time on our descent (1/4 mi below Glacier Meadow), it seemed like in the short time since we first crossed it, and after only 4 additional people had crossed, the recently hacked-out trail had eroded even more. Unless you are climbers/scramblers and confident about crossing washouts above steep drop-offs, or unless you are willing and able to use the vertical ladder that is secure but intimidating, it would be a good idea to consult with rangers about the status of this section of trail before heading up. You might want to consider camping below Glacier Meadow and day hiking to avoid crossing with a backpack. On our way back to the TH, we lunched at lovely Lewis meadow, played in the gravel bar, and then again tucked ourselves into the woods at 5.6 mi campsite for our last night along the river. Culinary discovery: if you are a peanut butter lover on backpacking trips, you are in luck! There is now a powdered form of the stuff, which you mix with water, thus saving much weight--for us almost 8 ounces!