Hoh River Trail to Five Mile Island, Hoh River Trail to Elk Lake & Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024

Entrance:
Did a 4 day backpacking trip Saturday-Tuesday (August 2024). To start the trip, we arrived at the park entrance around 9:30 and there was already a decent line formed so we were not able to get to the parking lot until roughly 11am.

Trail:
As expected the trail was quite beautiful and the hike up to Blue Glacier lateral moraine, even with the washout and steep climb through a rock field, was worth it. Trail was fairly crowded between up to 5 mile island. We had some fun sightings of mom and fawn deer at 5 mile and Olympus Guard Station. On the way in, there are two big river crossings right before the guard station, and we encountered several people who had gotten lost there as well as hearing about it from the ranger. For the first crossing, it was suggested that you just wade across (mid-calf deep with moderate current), and the second can be crossed at a log jam. There were orange flags to indicate where the trail was. You can also do the first crossing on some logs further up the river, but if you do so, make sure to go back to the original crossing location once you’re on the other side. That seemed to be a very common confusion point based on the people we talked to.

Camping:
For nights 1-3 respectively, we camped at Lewis Meadows, Elk Lake, and Olympus Guard Station. Lewis Meadows was quite full on a Saturday night, so be prepared to be camping quite close to others. Elk Lake was my least favorite campsite as the lake was fairly nasty (and a little more challenging to access) so no one was getting water from it. Most people walked back to Martin Creek (~.25mi away) to filter water. Also, all the outhouses were out of service, so I would have rather camped at Martin Creek because at least there was easy access to water. Olympus Guard Station was nice and quiet, and we camped near the river for the last night. All sites had bear wires available.