Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Wednesday, Jun. 15, 2016

Olympic Peninsula > Pacific Coast

So many others have been so eloquent about this popular hike that I'll just cut to the important basics: 1) The trail from the Hoh Ranger station to above the High Bridge (12 miles) has zero blowdowns. The broken bridge just before the Olympus ranger station has been fixed. There is only one possible ford, and its not bad. Overall, the trail is still quite muddy. We camped at: Happy Four (not a lot of sites), Elk Lake (boring), and Lewis Meadow (nice). 2) The trail through Martin Creek (just before Elk lake) has fresh blowdowns and is confusing. Just keep plowing straight ahead uphill through the campground. 3) The famous rope ladder above Elk lake is a little scary. Remember to go down it, then immediately back up to the elevation you started at. Gloves would be helpful. We went down it so early in the day that the wooden rungs were partly frozen, which was painful! 4) There is no significant snow on the trail until you've passed Glacier Meadows. Just after Glacier Meadows, there is a fork to the Lateral Moraine or the Terminal Moraine. I recommend the Terminal for most hikers. It's shorter and easier. We guessed Lateral, and you need to climb up 2 steep snowfields. This can be done without traction devices on your shoes, but do bring 2 poles and be careful. The view from there is stunning, and we saw a very inquisitive mountain goat. 5) The lower half of this trail is ridiculously crowded with rookies on a summer Saturday. Don't expect a camping site if you arrive late.