Olympic National Park is one of the top ranked National Parks in the United States and for good reason. A temperate rainforest and one of the quietest places on earth, it is a great place to get away from the noise and chaos of life.
One of the most popular and best hikes in the whole park is the Hoh River Trail. Located on the west side of Olympic National Park, the main parking lot at the Hoh ranger station is your starting point.
This guide will help you plan your epic trip through this incredibly beautiful old growth forest.
Getting to the Hoh River Trailhead
The trailhead is located approximately 40 minutes drive from the town of Forks (yes, that’s the one from the Twilight books). There are, however, no sparkly vampires or werewolves there that I saw, but it’s a cute town nonetheless.
Driving from Seattle (and the SeaTac airport) is a 3-4 hour drive depending on where you start. If you are in the city of Seattle you can drive around, going down through Olympia and up to the western side of the park, or you can take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry from Edmonds and drive through the top of the park, passing through Port Angeles. Either way it is going to take close to 4 hours.
And summer on the ferry can have a significant wait time. During our trip in April on the return trip on Sunday, the wait time was 2 hours, so we drove around.
Hiking Logistics
Depending on how far along the trail you go, there is very little elevation change. Up to Lewis Meadow it is actually quite flat. Beyond that, however, is a couple of miles with significant elevation gain (over 4,000 feet) to Glacier Meadows and blue glacier at the base of Mount Olympus.
Trail Length
You can make this trail as long or as short as you like but to get to Lewis Meadow the distance is 10.5 miles one way. To Glacier Meadows it is around 17.5 miles one-way. Along the 10.5 miles you will encounter minimal elevation gain with 3 river crossings, 2 of which occur approximately a mile before the Olympic Guard station. So be prepared to remove your shoes and for some slick rock.
Also, bear in mind that at certain times of the year, these rivers can be significantly higher and sometimes impassable. Always check with the ranger station before you head out.
Permits
To enter the park, you will need a park pass, which includes the America the Beautiful pass (which I highly recommend if you plan to visit multiple national parks, monuments or national forests in a year). If you are planning to spend the night along the trail you will need a wilderness permit.
In the off season, these wilderness permits are abundantly available, however, once summer and peak season hits, the availability virtually disappears. All wilderness permits can be purchased on the recreation.gov site (they also have a pretty handy app).
Best time of year to visit
In my opinion, the best time of year to visit is during the off season. If you can time it right and get a good weather window, you will have this trail mostly to yourself. My husband and I went in April and over the course of 2 days only saw a handful of people and the weather was perfect.
Peak season of course is during the summer months when the chance of rain is at its lowest. But remember, this is a rainforest, it is going to rain. So get yourself a cute little rain outfit and get out there anyway! Honestly, it’s one of the best ways to see this area.
Weather
It rains a lot here. Actually, it rains the most here compared to anywhere else in the United States. So, make sure you know what is expected for weather when you head out and plan accordingly. Heavy rains equals high rivers, which means potentially impassable river crossings.
Water sources
With all that rain, there is an abundance of water sources along the trail. It is called the Hoh River trail, meaning the river itself is never very far away. There are also several little streams. Just make sure to bring proper filtration, because even though those streams and river look incredibly clean, they are not.
I recommend a full water filtration system and I also brought my Life Straw and CrazyCap with me, which was really all I needed for drinking water because of the abundance of water sources around.
Bear canisters
In this area you do not need a bear canister, but you will have to at least hang your food bag. Many of the camping areas along the route have bear wire (and the signs will tell you when they do), but having a bear canister is always a good idea. We saw fresh black bear scat along our route as well as several piles of cougar scat, so having a way to safely hang or store your scented items is a must.
Olympic National Park map
I always recommend having a map with you. The trail is well marked, so chances of getting lost are significantly reduced, but not zero. I tell you on two of the river crossings we had a bit of a struggle finding the trail again, as did another couple we ran into along the way. So, it’s always good to bring a paper map (there is zero cell service on this trail).
Camping areas and trail highlights
Most people hiking the trail will make this a day hike and will plan to hike in to a specific spot, usually one of the camping areas, like Five mile island, and back. For the strong day-hiker, this is often to the Olympus guard station, at around 9 miles in.
But it is best if you can plan for at least one overnight if not two in order to truly experience the area. I highly recommend Lewis Meadow as your basecamp and so if you have the time on day 1 you would hike in to Lewis Meadow, set up camp and the next day hike to Glacier Meadows and back, camping again at Lewis Meadow and then out the following day.
However, Glacier Meadows, is a highly recommended place due to it’s beauty and if you plan to hike up Mount Olympus, you should plan for at least one night at Glacier Meadows. This is not likely going to be feasible during the winter due to the snow pack at the higher elevations, that’s why Lewis Meadow is the perfect spot, with no significant elevation and no snow.
There are other camping areas, with areas for groups sites, prior to Lewis Meadow. The first, at 2.5 miles in is Mount Tom creek. There is camping here with views of Mount Tom (of course). From there you will hike on and at mile 5.3 you will arrive at Five mile island and it’s campsites. Between Mount Tom and Five Mile island you will pass the junction to the Mount Tom trail, 2 stunning waterfalls, and Cougar creek cedar grove with Sitka spruces that are hundreds of years old.
After Five mile island, you will continue on an additional 3.6 miles to the Olympus Guard station. Along the way, as I mentioned above are 2 river crossings. They aren’t far apart from one another, so if you are taking your hiking boots off to cross the first one (and I recommend you do because the water is up above the ankles (and rather cold in April)), bring some sandals and hike in those to the next river crossing.
Because it’s such a flat trail, you can easily hike for a period in your sandals (we actually hiked from those two river crossings most of the way to Lewis Meadow in our flipflops). Just watch for small sticks trying to slice your toes open (this may have happened to me).
At Lewis Meadow there are campsites in the meadow, a pit toilet, and bear wire. There is 1 group site that I noticed and if you walk towards the river you can camp along the river bed or even right on it. It’s a bit more of a walk back to the pit toilet and where you might have hung your food bag, but trust me it’s worth it.
Glacier Meadows is an additional 4.7 miles from the Olympus Guard station, so if you want to see blue glacier up close, you will definitely want to make this an overnight. And in the winter, make sure to bring spikes or crampons, as you will encounter snow.
Additional trails
There are several easy trails at the start of the Hoh River Trail, for those that are looking to see the beauty of this area but don’t want to put in the miles. One of the most famous of course is the Hall of Mosses trail. This short, 0.8 mile loop is flat and spectacular.
The main problem is during the summer months when it is also packed with people. To a point where you need to wait until some people leave. The landscape is extremely fragile, so make sure you stay on trail at all times and practice Leave No Trace principles.
The other trail that branches off the Hoh River Trail, right at the start, is the Spruce Nature Trail. This 1.2 mile loop is a great chance to see elk, just be careful if you are there in the late full during rut when all the males are fighting over the females.
These two trails along with the Hoh River trail have some huge trees. Some of the biggest and oldest trees with incredible clumps of moss hanging from their branches and clinging to their trunk.
At 0.8 miles past the Olympic Guard station you will encounter a trail divide with signs to Hoh lake trail and the High Divide.
You can access the famed High Divide area, with its incredible alpine lakes, from Port Angeles, but you can also access it at this turn off. Here you would bear left. If you want to continue on to Lewis Meadow and Glacier Meadows, you would continue right.
Wildlife
There is a lot of wildlife activity in this area, with park signs that cougars and black bear regularly frequent the area and to take precautions. There are also elk, black tailed deer and a plethora of birds. It was the first time I saw a hummingbird in a wilderness setting and it was awesome.
Concluding Thoughts
This is the perfect backpacking trip and my favorite hike so far on the Olympic Peninsula and for good reason. The incredibly scenic views of temperate rainforest with a backdrop of rugged mountains will stick with me forever.
Note that this is not a dog friendly hike. If you want to experience the Olympic peninsula, but also want to bring your furry family member, check out the National Forest and Marmot Pass.
