Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Tuesday, Jul. 4, 2017

A terrific hike offering a survey of the great variety the Olympics offer. Starting in lush rainforest and transitioning to alpine lakes, snowy peaks, and glaciers. 

Hike: We did this as a 3 day hike. The hike along the Hoh river is lush and green. Large ferns and moss carpet the valley floor in old growth forest. Day 1 we camped at Lewis meadows, though this made for a long 16-mile second day up to the terminal moraine and back down. It would probably be better to camp at Elk lake at the end of the first night. There are many campsites in Lewis meadows, and bear wire, which is nice. The climbing down the ladder at the washout is a fun obstacle; just watch out for rocks tumbling down from above, as well as broken rungs. This second day is quite a climb. The last mile was on a continuous, at times quite steep, snowfield. The views from the top of the terminal moraine look down onto Blue Glacier, and Mt Olympus towers immediately behind the glacier. Some of the most incredible views I've had in Washington. On the way back down we stopped for a refreshing swim in Elk lake, which was surprisingly not that cold. 

Animals: A great array of wildlife. Saw a fox, grouse with chicks, black bear with two cubs, deer (buck, doe, and fawn), and goat. 

Wildflowers: Most of the flowers were above the washout up to the moraine. Tiger lilies, columbine, and yellow monkeyflower in sunny patches after the washout. There were fields full of avalanche lilies as we got within a mile and a half of the end. On the rocky sections on the terminal moraine there were David's penstemon. Nuphar polysepala (yellow pond lily) blooming on Elk lake.