This hike is awesome, highly recommend. We did 3 nights and 4 days. First starting the trail for a few miles you will be with the other day hikers. The trail is pretty flat for 12.5 miles. This forest is so cool. So much vegetation and the trees were huge. It was raining but the trees helped protect us. We camped at Olympus Ranger Station and it was nice with a valley, river and lots of spots. I recommend going just a little farther to Lewis Meadow. This camp site is perfect. Day 2 and still raining. The trail finally starts to climb at 12.5 miles from trailhead and we stayed at elk Lake. This campsite only had a few spots where water wasn't going to puddle but nice having the shelter to dry out for a little while. Day 3 finally not raining and day hiked up to lateral moraine. Pretty good climb the whole way up. When you come to the ladder take the rope instead, it was easier to get down and up. Try to stay at glacier meadows on night 2. This camp site had tons of spots and so pretty with a meadow. Hike another mile higher to the lateral moraine and have a great view of the glacier and Mt Olympus. We saw many people summiting and crossing the glacier. We headed down all the way to Lewis Meadows for our last night. Day 4 hiked all the way out through the pretty forest again this time with no rain. Saw tons of deer, some elk and lots of critters. Gators were nice due to the rain. Add this one to your list, the forest is unreal. 

Fun three day backpacking trip down the Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier. We camped at Olympus Guard Station the first night, day hiked to the glacier overlook the second day, and hiked out from the guard station the third day. The trail is in great condition, aside from expected obstacles such as minor creek crossings and the rope ladder before Glacier Meadows. The trail is almost snow free now except for a couple of snow fields just before the lateral moraine viewpoint, less than 1/8 mile of snow. These can even be bypassed and probably done without traction at this point. Glacier Meadows is lush with wildflowers blooming. There is a coyote hanging around some of the campsites between Five Mile Island and Lewis Meadow, so don't leave food unattended even when you're around camp. Cheers!

What to say? This trail is incredible. 

It seems most people take 3 days to do the full out-and-back to the glacier. I elected for a condensed 2-day trip and therefore had very long, but mostly enjoyable, days.

Day 1: I started at 4:30pm on Thursday. As others have explained, the first 12.4 miles of this trail are pretty much all flat through the green jungle alongside the beautiful Hoh River. There are some lovely views of the braided, glacier-blue river, and also a waterfall around Mile 3.5. There are ample campsites within the first 12 miles, none of which require quota permits. On the way in I saw about 4 banana slugs. Otherwise, pretty uneventful through this first 12 mile stretch.

Things start to get interesting after the 12.4 campsite. The climb begins, and at Mile 13 you'll reach the most amazing bridge. The bridge crosses a river at a height of about 100 feet (I'm bad at estimating distances) -- truly enough to make you catch your breath. There is one campsite right before the bridge and two in the .3 miles after the bridge, all of which seem lovely. 

After the bridge, it's a bit of an uphill slog to the next two campsites: Martin Creek and Elk Lake. Although Martin Creek is closer to running water, Elk Lake was gorgeous. I'd choose to stay here next time. Both of these sites are 15 miles in from the trailhead: an ambitious first day (though this is what I ended up doing, and camped at Martin Creek for the night).

Day 2: from Elk Lake, the trail continues to climb and you start to navigate a narrow ridgeline. The mountains begin peeking out between thinning trees, and you start to feel the power of the Olympics. 

After about two miles from Elk Lake you'll reach a crazy ladder/rope situation to help you down and across a steep drainage. The ladder wasn't the best with a full pack, so perhaps leave your stuff at Elk Lake and just bring a daypack up to the glacier, unless you're camping up there. Also, look carefully for the trail cairns that lead you back UP and across the drainage to where the trail begins again on the other side! I started to go further down the drainage, which quickly steepens and narrows into what looked like a snow-covered waterfall. Don't do this!

After the drainage crossing, you're almost at Glacier Meadows. And what a beautiful spot that is: a tranquil, small meadow with several campsites. I arrived early in the misty morning and saw a deer nibbling on grass near the bear hangs. It was a moment. 

The glacier views are now only a mile or two away. I chose to walk to the lateral moraine, which seemed to be slightly further than one mile from Glacier Meadows. However, the payoff was insane. Getting to see the entire glacier and all of Mount Olympus was exactly what I'd hoped for and made the long days of hiking completely worth it. Note: there is still a bit of snow cover in and after Glacier Meadows. It was nice to have solid hiking boots (and not trail runners). 

Now, for the way down: I decided (stupidly?) to hike all the way back to the trailhead on Day 2. Most people opt to camp another night, which would be wise. My walk out got really rough once I hit the flat stretch again. The last 10 miles in particular left me with the most sore legs I've ever had, and a serious lack of motivation to keep trudging along the flat (boring?) trail. However, I kept meeting nice people on the way.

This is a really special trail to get into the heart of the Olympic range. Doing it on a Thursday-Friday was ideal in that there were far fewer campers. I saw a ton of people hiking in Friday night, so tent spots might get scarce. That said, it feels really remote despite the foot traffic. An amazing hike all around!

This is a lovely hike with some of the more breathtaking vistas I've seen. I did a 3 day, 2 night trip. Day 1 I hiked to campsite 13.3, which my gaia app actually said was 13.7 miles in. The first 13 miles are essentially flat, and took me 4.5 hrs to hike going fairly quick and not many stops. Some beautiful views of the river and so much lush foliage.  Campsite 13.1 is just before the Hoh bridge and is directly off of the trail (not much privacy). Campsites 13.2 and 13.3 are past the bridge a short walk and are further removed from the trail.

Day 2 I left for the glacier around 930 am. This part of the hike feels like a completely different trail, leaving low rainforest and entering a subalpine type environment. Steady altitude gain and beautiful views of the surrounding peaks. The rope ladder was kinda fun. Go up and to your right to get back on the trail, was somewhat hard to find. You will pass some last camp sites and a platform for a ranger station at glacier meadows. From there you have approximately 0.9 miles to the viewpoint that looks directly at Olympus and the Blue Glacier. You go through the most beautiful meadow with a creek, lush greenery, wild flowers in full bloom (June 21), and a view up towards the mountain. Keep going over 2 snow fields, which were very comfortable to cross in trail runners and poles. Finally, keep going up to the ridge that looks directly at Mt Olympus. This was 5 miles in, 10 miles round trip for day 2. Day 3 I hiked the 13 some miles back to the parking lot. 

Day 1: 13.76 miles, 1,260ft elevation, 4.5 hrs moving time

Day 2: 10.04 miles, 3,600ft elevation, apx 5 hrs moving time

Day 3: 13.76 miles, -1,260ft elevation, 4.5 hrs moving time