On Saturday night I drove to the trailhead/Hoh River Visitors Center and slept in my Outback in the parking lot. Sunday morning I ran/hiked to just past Elk Lake and back on the Hoh River Trail. I was initially planning on going all the way to Glacier Meadows/Blue Glacier, but the snow became impassable about a quarter mile after Elk Lake. The snow cover began very subtly about a half mile past the High Hoh bridge, so about mile 13.7 or so. And then it steadily increased going uphill towards Elk Lake. Snow and ice were actually falling as they melted and fell off the trees (it was a beautiful sunny day). Glad I had my hat and sunglasses just for protection from the quarter sized ice falling. The half mile or so before getting to Elk Lake was post holing territory. I tried to be careful and mostly stepped on solid snow, avoiding the postholes left by a couple who had gone out to Elk Lake earlier (I saw them on their return on my way there). But the postholes would leave me up to my hips in snow. I carried my microspikes with me, but never felt the need to put them on. Poles were helpful though to test out the snow and avoid post holing as much as possible. There are a couple stream crossings in the snow section. Going past Elk Lake a bit, the trail was completely unbroken snow. I was breaking in trail in knee high snow, postholing more than hip deep, with snow above my head on either side of the trail. So I decided to turn around for safety. The couple I had passed on the way had said they spoke to a ranger who cautioned about avalanche danger in the avalanche chute between Elk Lake and Glacier Meadows.
Back to the lowland portion of Hoh River Trail - its in pretty rough shape in terms of many blowdowns to navigate around or over, many mud bogs and standing pools of water to navigate around or through, and more thickets of roots and rocks to navigate carefully over than I remember from my previous traverse of this trail 10 or 11 years ago. There are a number of stream crossings, but with one exception, I was able to find a log to cross on or step through on rocks without getting wet. The one exception, I'm guessing around mile 7 or 8, I couldn't find a good crossing and just waded through. On my first crossing of it I only went in calf deep, but on the return crossing in the afternoon, I went in thigh deep because I wasn't as careful in choosing a shallow path since I knew I was getting wet.
Wildlife spottings: Startled one elk who fortunately bounded into the forest downhill rather than running towards me. Saw what I think was a wolverine about 100 feet ahead on the trail. Smaller than a bear, the color of a grizzly, had a bear like gait rather than feline, but had a tail. You hear and feel the woodpeckers as they make the forest shake with their reverb pounding on the trees.
Looks like some trail work is being set up, with boards and metal rails being situated in a few places, I'm guessing to make new bridges across streams or over some of the mudbogs/water pools.
The restrooms at the Visitors Center are super clean and well stocked. The water fountains there are not in service, or out of order. Bring a water filter, there's plenty of water from stream crossings along the trail. Lots of waterfalls and massive redwoods and ferns and moss.
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