I did a three day backpack of the Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier, staying at Elk Lake the first night and Olympus Guard Station the second night.  If you intend to do this hike and go to Blue Glacier, be sure to research the rope/ladder climbing required to navigate a landslide area just before you arrive at Glacier Meadows.  Olympic National Park has done a good job of making this area navigable but this type of climbing and descending isn't a normal part of most hikes.  The trail through the Hoh Rain Forest was muddy from time to time and bugs were an issue in some locations, although not too bad overall.  For additional visual information, please check out my video below.

We were able to snag a pretty good itinerary with two nights at Elk Lake, so we were very excited for this one. We started off from the campground on Friday morning, which let us miss a lot of the day hiker traffic and get an early start for a 15+ mile day. It was beautiful in the forest and along the river, but a bit of a long hike no doubt.

Elk Lake is a fine place to camp, but nothing special unfortunately. There isn't easy access to the lake and it wouldn't really be possible to fish (wish I had known that before bringing a pole!). The outlet steam is also pretty warm and murky, so we headed 1/3 mile down to trail to filter water from Martin Creek. That said, Elk Lake was a great basecamp for splitting up the trip!

The hike up to the glacier from here gets quite steep, but the views improve steadily. Just before Glacier Meadows is an immense washout. You'll need to go down a long, steep ladder and rope over a 200-foot hillside, and it's not for the faint of heart! I imagine it'd be pretty hard with a full backpack, but plenty of people managed. Apart from this, the trail is in great shape.

The final trip up to the glacier is pretty steep, but well worth it. I'd definitely recommend going to both the lateral and the terminal morraine. The lateral morraine is quite a bit more difficult but provides a better view of the glacier, so you'll probably want to do that one first.

Our hike out was a bit of a slog as it got hot, and the trail was busy on a Sunday afternoon near the visitor center. Our feet were hurting pretty bad, so a dip in the ocean at Ruby Beach was welcomed. This is a pretty substantial hike - I recorded over 40 miles and 11,000 feet of gain total including some wandering. I'm not totally convinced this is correct, but that's about what the attached route seems to think.

Completed a wonderful two night backpacking trip along the Hoh River Trail earlier this week (Sunday to Tuesday). Hiked in from the Hoh Visitor Center Sunday morning nine miles to OIympus Guard Station. We were a bit nervous about the high mileage with our heavy packs, but the trail is in great condition and is almost entirely flat all the way to the campsite. We stayed at a group site right along the Hoh River nestled in a grove of trees. LOTS of bugs. There are community bear wires at this site which worked great - there was a massive bear scratch in the tree next to the wire, so you know they work!

The second day two of us woke up early and hit the trail at 6am to head up to Mt. Olympus and Blue Glacier, an 18 mile round trip day hike. For the first 4 miles from Olympus Guard Station, the trail continues along the Hoh River and stays flat. Moderate elevation gain begins after that, but nothing too crazy until you reach Elk Lake. Note: Elk Lake is not a pristine alpine lake if that's what you were envisioning. It's beautiful, but it's marshy and buggy (and looks like a place a herd of elk would enjoy!). After Elk Lake, the trail kicks up a notch and meanders upwards until you start to get some long awaited views of the mountain through the trees. Before you reach Glacier Meadows, there is a big slide area that you navigate via avalanche ladder - definitely the most sketchy part of this hike. There is a rope next to the ladder so you can also just rappel straight down the slide. Another note: there is no view of the mountain or glacier from the sites at Glacier Meadows. By this point we were pretty wiped, but we pressed on the additional 1.2 miles to see Blue Glacier. We choose to hike up to the lateral moraine (vs. terminal moraine), figuring we'd get a better view from up alongside it. We guessed right - the view is killer. The last portion up to the viewpoint was the hardest part. You pick your way up through a glacial meadow (filled with wildflowers still!) and a scree canyon with the occasional snow patch. The trail is marked by rock cairns so keep your eyes peeled for those. We had lunch with our glorious view of the glacier (which we had all to ourselves on a Monday afternoon!) and headed back to camp after some obligatory pics. Got back to Olympus Guard Station around 6pm so 12 hours round trip. Passed lots of Olympus bound climbers on our way back!

Our hike back out to the trailhead the next morning wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be, definitely a doable itinerary if you're in good shape. However, would probably be ideal as a three night trip. Also worth noting that you really don't get a view till the end of this trail - but you're hiking through beautiful, old growth forest along the Hoh River the whole way. Water to filter abounds along the entirety of the trail!

Had a great trip - 3 days, 2 nights. Posting here all the things I wish I'd known before heading out :)

1. I reserved campsites on recreation.gov. I got a reservation confirmation but no reservation email - the ranger said they were understaffed due to COVID and were having to due the emails manually. We already were stopping at the Quinalt Information Center to get a bear canister, so it wasn't a big deal to ask the ranger to print our reservation paperwork as well, but would've been a bummer if we didn't need to stop for the canister. Note that the Quinalt Ranger Station (north shore) is currently closed for COVID -- the Quinalt Information Center (south shore) is open and where we backtracked to (353 S Shore Rd) after first driving to the north shore station. Also, there was about a 45 minute wait to get into the Park (1 pm on a Saturday) due to the parking lot being full.

2. We drove in from the south, coming from Seattle. I don't think there are any gas stations after the gas in Quinalt, and we weren't getting cell reception after Quinalt to check. If you miss that like we did, you'll have to drive further north to Forks for gas before you head into the Park.

3. We made reservations late so were only able to get Five Mile Island and Glacier Meadows camping passes. I don't recommend this itinerary. It had us do only 5.5 miles the first day, then 12 miles to Glacier Meadows with elevation gain with overnight packs the second day (then 2.5 miles round trip to the lateral moraine lookout packless after we set up camp), then 17.5 miles out the second day with overnight packs. Also, despite the name, Glacier Meadows campsite didn't have a view that made the extra hike worth it to me. I'd personally recommend finding a campsite further on the trail for two nights, around Lewis Meadows, to more evenly distribute mileage and to avoid lugging overnight gear up the incline leading to Glacier Meadows. If you want to do the trail in less than 3 days, more power to you!

4. Five Mile Island required bear canisters (which it doesn't usually) due to recent coyote activity. Glacier Meadows has built-in bear wires.

5. Bugs/mosquitos were manageable lower on the trail, but got pretty bad at Glacier Meadows. I had long sleeves, a face net, and DEET, and still got lit up that night.

6.  It was pretty hot (above 80) and humid. I'm glad we brought a lot of electrolyte pills/powders.

7. Day 1: 2 hours to hike from trailhead to Five Mile Island. Day 2: 3 hours to around Lewis Meadows. Lunch, sunscreen, water refill (before trail leaves the river). Then 4 hours from there to Glacier Meadows (the washout/rope section wasn't that sketchy, but make sure you look for cairns and head back up the scramble after you've descended the rope/ladder). 80ish minutes roundtrip from there to the Lateral Moraine lookout (the sign at Glacier Meadows is broken and sitting in the grass; the turnoff is to the left of the trail, before most of the Glacier Meadows campsites). Day 3: 8 hours all the way down to the trailhead. We are all in decent, not superb, shape, with 40+ pound packs, and a little slowed down due to the heat. Your times will likely vary.

8. Scenery-wise... I was honestly a little disappointed that the vast majority of the trail was forest, and we didn't get into meadows until the last few miles, and didn't get a view of Olympus until the very, very end of the hike. So, it wasn't exactly what I expected. But, it was still a gorgeous trip.

9. We saw a black bear a few miles from the trailhead. A couple deer intermittently. Marmots above Glacier Meadows.

10. Apart from one rude person who made tried to make fun of us for wearing masks in the ranger station parking lot, people were polite, masked, and stepped off the trail for the incoming hikers. Despite the full parking lot, we didn't see many hikers after the first 5 miles or so of the trail. 

Hope this helps!

We spent 3 days on the Hoh River visiting Mount Olympus and it's Blue Glacier. First day to Elk Lake for the night. Next morning the glacier, then Lewis Meadows for night two. Hiked out the following morning.

Visitor Center parking was full on Saturday. Found a spot along the road, headed up at noon. Due to our late start we hiked the lush & mossy rainforest through the heat of the day. From Five Mile Island to Olympus Guard Station the bugs had their way with us. After camp 12.4 we climbed for 3 miles and left them behind. Made camp under forest canopy at Elk Lake. One of 3 bear wires was jammed. Water from the lake's outlet stream was warm & suspect, so we filtered from Martin Creek instead.

Awoke the following morning full of anticipation. We've wanted to see Mount Olympus and it's unique low elevation glaciers for quite some time. Grabbed a daypack and headed up. At the washout we mainly used the ropes both down and back up. Helmet and gloves helpful. We did it one at a time as rockfall potential was high. Lateral moraine trail was gorgeous. Alpine views, meadows full of wildflowers and blooming heather. On top, the Blue Glacier spread out like the train of a wedding dress. Only one other group and after they left, the mountain was ours. We soaked our tired feet in a snowmelt fed tarn, it was so wonderful.

Broke camp and headed to Lewis Meadows for the night. Camped on a gravel bar near the river under open sky with views up the valley. When we got water for dinner some skinny dippers put on a show for us. We pretended not to look...

Had a wonderful evening on the river and a starry night sky. Hiked out the next morning. Another great trip in the mountains!