Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Monday, Sep. 8, 2025

2.5 day backpack to Blue Glacier: day 1 TH to Glacier Meadows; day 2 up to the glacier then down to Olympus Guard Station; day 3 back to the TH.

Trail in excellent condition the whole way, though I think my soul briefly left my body on that }*#%{{ ladder. Ladder was largely intact with a few broken rungs, but intrinsically scary AF. Bear wires were reported to be out of service at Mt Tom Creek and Martin Creek. They were usable and in good condition at both our sites. Privies at our sites were all clean and in good shape. There was water at Glacier Meadows in the stream but not running much; mostly 6-8” pools. Plenty of water elsewhere on the trail. Some of the Glacier Meadows tent sites have dead trees and we avoided tenting in those.

Looked like Elk Lake was the campsite of choice for folks visiting the glacier; we couldn’t permit it on a Monday night. There were about 4 small groups camping at Glacier Meadows. If you can get there by evening it’s a great and very easy jumping-off point for seeing the glacier the next morning (but does require taking the ladder both ways with a pack).

Loads of ripe blueberries and some huckleberries on the way up to the glacier. In terms of wildlife, we saw a ruffed grouse and tiny toads but not the elk — just their scat on the gravel bar at OGS. A couple at our site saw a black bear. The ranger warned us about recent cougar sightings but we didn’t see it (though maybe it saw us).

Gorgeous challenging hike. It would be great to figure out how to make the ladder safer, but despite it, we had a blast.