Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Monday, Aug. 20, 2018

To celebrate my birthday, I wanted to do a four-day, three-night backpacking trip, since I haven't done a long backpack in a few years (I think it's been three at this point). 

So, the week before, I planned and researched a variety of routes all over Washington, and based on air quality, fires, and trail closures, I finally settled on heading to Grand Valley and Deer Park. But that's not where this trip report is for because as I drove over on Sunday, the smoke was so thick in Port Angeles I couldn't see the Olympic mountains. 

That combined with the forecasted poor air quality (it was supposed to be the worst on Monday and Tuesday) made me rethink my original plan. I didn't have an alternate, low-elevation backup plan on the Peninsula, but somehow, the idea of going to Blue Glacier came to me. So I zipped to the Port Angeles WIC to make sure I could get a walk-up permit at the trailhead for a non-quota campsite.

Because I spent my first planned day of the backpacking trip refiguring my route, I headed to Salt Creek Recreation Area to spend the night, rather than drive all the way to the trailhead that evening. 

At this point, I knew I now had only three days and two nights to do a hike that was longer than any of the other routes I'd considered. I wasn't worried; I knew that it was mostly a river walk with some elevation gain to the glacier, but I thought I'd probably be fine. 

Well, I finished the hike, but a week later, my feet are still recovering. The trail is mostly flat, yes, but hiking nearly 13 miles on day one (starting at 12 30 pm) will wear out anyone's feet. Mine were in leather boots that didn't breathe, and it was HOT. I think it was in the mid-eighties each day of our hike, and I was carrying a pack that weighed more than 50lbs (I weighed it when I got back because I was so thrashed after the trip I had to know how much weight I was carrying). All that weight, the boots and the heat combined to make blisters on my little toes the first day, which made the rest of the hike far harder than I think it would have been otherwise. Other people have said respect the distance and I can't emphasize that enough. The trail is also rocky in some places, which can play havoc with feet even when it is flat. 

Luckily, along the way on Day 1, I met up with another backpacker who was heading to the same campsite. He was also solo, and so we fell in together, and talked the whole way to camp. The conversation and company was a good distraction from my feet, which were developing blisters quickly. 

We got to camp, soaked feet in the COLD river, had dinner, and zonked out. The next morning, we started later than intended. This was of more concern for my new friend, who wanted to get up to the glacier and back to his car that day. But he was fast -- I told him to go ahead of me once we got started hiking and he took off. The blisters and relentless uphill slowed me down. I stopped twice on the way to Elk Lake to dress my feet, then again at Elk Lake to readjust the bandages. Past Elk Lake, I slowed down because there were so. many. berries. Whoa. I felt like a little bear, walking along, stopping to munch berries every 10 feet. 

Eventually though, I stopped snacking and found a plodding pace, finally arriving at The Ladder. By this time it was pretty hot -- I think probably 1pm-ish, and smoke had restricted the views. There were some OK sights from the trail here, but I was having a hard time breathing and I was nervous about this ladder.  I'd heard a lot about it, from other hikers and trip reports and it was about as freaky as most people make it sound. There's a photo attached here, but you essentially climb down this ladder on a steep, slippery dirt face, holding onto a rope anchored onto a tree for support. I would have been absolutely terrified to do this with a full backpack on. I didn't see anyone doing it with packs, but the last camp before the glacier - Glacier Meadows - is right after the ladder, so you do have to cross the ladder with a pack if you're staying there. (on my way back I a woman carrying a pack with a TON of stuff on it passed me, heading for Glacier Meadows -- props to her, she looked cool as a cucumber and she'd just crossed that ladder). 

I also ran into my fellow solo backpacker at the Ladder. He was coming back from Glacier Meadows camp. We laughed at the ladder situation, he (presumably) because he'd crossed it successfully and didn't have to worry about it again, and me because I was already worked and couldn't believe this scary obstacle was so close to the end of the trail. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten to the glacier itself, but I took a photo of him at the ladder overlook and then he took off for the trailhead. An 18-mile day for him in all. Ouch. 

I negotiated the ladder successfully (albeit very slowly), and in Glacier Meadows sat on the tent platform to eat my lunch. Already disappointed I hadn't made it to the glacier (at this point it was going on 5 hours that I'd been hiking and it's only 6 miles to the glacier from where I'd camped), I heaved my pack on to get the last leg in, and almost immediately ran into three guys coming down the trail who said, "Don't worry, it's all uphill from here." Thanks.

More helpfully, they mentioned that the lateral moraine was breathtaking, and it was absolutely worth the extra half mile of climbing. Always a glutton for punishment (and having told myself I wouldn't be back out here anytime soon), I headed for the lateral moraine. 

One of the attached photos is a talus field above Glacier Meadows camp. I took it on what felt like my tenth break in 20 minutes, and as I took it I said, out loud, "Where the *!@^& is this glacier??" The thing about this trail is that you can't see Blue Glacier until the very, last, steps. So literally less than a quarter mile from the end, you still can't see it. I was hot, tired, and embarrassed and frustrated at how slowly I'd hiked that day. I was even wondering if it would be worth it -- I had seen photos of it before so I knew what to expect. 

But as I crested the ridge for the Lateral Moraine view, I felt a cool breeze and the glacier took up essentially my whole field of vision. It was very impressive. There was only one other couple at the ridge with me, and I sat down behind a rock to let my feet breathe, my shoes dry out, and generally bask in the sun. 

After about an hour of that, more people began to show up and I finally packed up my things and headed back. It took me just about three hours to get back to camp, but even so, it was a long last mile. Despite it being 6 30 when I got back, I still took a break at the river before dinner. Another of campers stayed with me that night, two folks from Michigan who were nice company. They were both about as pooped as I was, which sort of made me feel better about the day. 

I did some stretching before going to sleep, which was essential -- I was much less sore the next morning. After packing up camp and refilling water, I set out for the trailhead. The blisters caught up to me at the Olympus Guard Station, where I spent a good 45 minutes snacking and fixing my feet up before getting a pretty solid 2 hours at ~3mph under my feet. Of course, that meant I took a bit of a break at the waterfall 3 miles from the trailhead, to nurse my feet again. I just didn't have it in me to keep up that pace another hour.

tl;dr -- I'm glad I did it, and that I can check it off my list. Next time (if I return) I'm wearing trail runners.