Had a great trip - 3 days, 2 nights. Posting here all the things I wish I'd known before heading out :)
1. I reserved campsites on recreation.gov. I got a reservation confirmation but no reservation email - the ranger said they were understaffed due to COVID and were having to due the emails manually. We already were stopping at the Quinalt Information Center to get a bear canister, so it wasn't a big deal to ask the ranger to print our reservation paperwork as well, but would've been a bummer if we didn't need to stop for the canister. Note that the Quinalt Ranger Station (north shore) is currently closed for COVID -- the Quinalt Information Center (south shore) is open and where we backtracked to (353 S Shore Rd) after first driving to the north shore station. Also, there was about a 45 minute wait to get into the Park (1 pm on a Saturday) due to the parking lot being full.
2. We drove in from the south, coming from Seattle. I don't think there are any gas stations after the gas in Quinalt, and we weren't getting cell reception after Quinalt to check. If you miss that like we did, you'll have to drive further north to Forks for gas before you head into the Park.
3. We made reservations late so were only able to get Five Mile Island and Glacier Meadows camping passes. I don't recommend this itinerary. It had us do only 5.5 miles the first day, then 12 miles to Glacier Meadows with elevation gain with overnight packs the second day (then 2.5 miles round trip to the lateral moraine lookout packless after we set up camp), then 17.5 miles out the second day with overnight packs. Also, despite the name, Glacier Meadows campsite didn't have a view that made the extra hike worth it to me. I'd personally recommend finding a campsite further on the trail for two nights, around Lewis Meadows, to more evenly distribute mileage and to avoid lugging overnight gear up the incline leading to Glacier Meadows. If you want to do the trail in less than 3 days, more power to you!
4. Five Mile Island required bear canisters (which it doesn't usually) due to recent coyote activity. Glacier Meadows has built-in bear wires.
5. Bugs/mosquitos were manageable lower on the trail, but got pretty bad at Glacier Meadows. I had long sleeves, a face net, and DEET, and still got lit up that night.
6. It was pretty hot (above 80) and humid. I'm glad we brought a lot of electrolyte pills/powders.
7. Day 1: 2 hours to hike from trailhead to Five Mile Island. Day 2: 3 hours to around Lewis Meadows. Lunch, sunscreen, water refill (before trail leaves the river). Then 4 hours from there to Glacier Meadows (the washout/rope section wasn't that sketchy, but make sure you look for cairns and head back up the scramble after you've descended the rope/ladder). 80ish minutes roundtrip from there to the Lateral Moraine lookout (the sign at Glacier Meadows is broken and sitting in the grass; the turnoff is to the left of the trail, before most of the Glacier Meadows campsites). Day 3: 8 hours all the way down to the trailhead. We are all in decent, not superb, shape, with 40+ pound packs, and a little slowed down due to the heat. Your times will likely vary.
8. Scenery-wise... I was honestly a little disappointed that the vast majority of the trail was forest, and we didn't get into meadows until the last few miles, and didn't get a view of Olympus until the very, very end of the hike. So, it wasn't exactly what I expected. But, it was still a gorgeous trip.
9. We saw a black bear a few miles from the trailhead. A couple deer intermittently. Marmots above Glacier Meadows.
10. Apart from one rude person who made tried to make fun of us for wearing masks in the ranger station parking lot, people were polite, masked, and stepped off the trail for the incoming hikers. Despite the full parking lot, we didn't see many hikers after the first 5 miles or so of the trail.
Hope this helps!
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