Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025

Friday-Sunday (2 nights, 3 days) backpacking trip to Blue Glacier, including glacier travel.
Obstacles on trail:
-water crossing at around mile 7-8 (perhaps knee deep) or opt for the log crossing.

-the ladder on the approach to Glacier Meadows has several rungs out. This can be particularly challenging for shorter people!

Night 1: Elk Lake camp. Privy is new and operating! Group site is not very flat.

Night 2: Glacier Meadows. 2 great privies, but Jemrod Creek by the group site to the west side of camp is at a trickle but it is manageable to get enough water. Beware of floodable tent spots at this group site. Many sit in bowls— we woke up to 2-3in of water in an unexpected downpour in the night.

Our group’s original plan was to summit, but with lack of recent trip reports and it being such late season, we decided to postpone a summit trip. Instead we practiced glacier travel, ice axe arrests, and building anchors and rappelling into a crevasse on the glacier. The glacier has a lot of melt and large crevasses this time of year, so we stayed roped up.

During the night’s rain at GM, we heard what sounded like a large glacial release (sounded like thunder or an explosion).

Our only wildlife encounters were: a buck at Glacier Meadows, grouse along the Hoh River trail, and the sound of elk bugling. A large bear scat was found at our group site at GM.