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Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 6:16 am
by drm
Betsy and I hiked the Hoh River Trail from May 10-13. We drove up there on the 10th and headed in at 2:30 and hiked 5 miles to Five Mile Island Camp. Day 2 was 10 miles, and about 1500 feet up, to Martin Creek Camp, and then we dayhiked a bit higher. Day 3 we went back down to Happy Four Camp, which is near our first camp. Then out the next day.

Just a note that while many of Olympic NP's entrances are fee-free, this one is not: $30 to get in. And unlike many parks, backpacking permits are not free either: $8 per person per night. I suppose that's what it takes to keep trails like this open. I don't know for a fact how that monty is allocated, but take a look at some of the trail work in this report. Other trailheads may not have an entrance fee, but all have the backpacking permit fee.

Trailhead
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Our camp was on the shore and you could easily wade over on to Five Mile Island. You could camp there too, though we didn't. On the far side of the island was this nice view of the Hoh River and some mountains.
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Here is our camp and the small channel separating us from the island across it.
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Betsy and a very big tree. Can you imagine what kind of chain saw this requires?
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One of the elk we saw
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Very strange thingee sticking out of a tree
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More amazing trail work, note my trekking pole for scale
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A very strange kind of fungus on a dead tree
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A very normal kind of bridge in these parts
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Ranger guard station at Olympus Camp. Yes, there is a Mt. Olympus above all this.
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They were making cedar shakes, presumably to reroof that ranger station. Very fresh smelling.
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Cedar with strange branch
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High Hoh Bridge - the trail started climbing steeply just before this.
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The Hoh River rushes through a very narrow gorge below the bridge at bottom, and Martin Creek joins in at the top of the photo.
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Perfect trillium
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View with Elk Lake below
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From our camp on Martin Creek, we hiked up about 1.5 miles further to this viewpoint
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Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 6:35 am
by retired jerry
nice

I've done that as a day hike, I should do a backpack, thanks

$10 for lifetime Senior access card, now $80. Gets you into the park. You still have to pay the backpacking fee. I wonder if it's 50% off with senior access card

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 7:29 am
by RobFromRedland
I'm not seeing the images - would love to see the pictures.

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 8:02 am
by drm
Jerry - Got two years to go before I can get that.

Rob - Not sure what the problem is, I'm still. seeing them, assume Jerry is as well since he didn't mention them. They are also at http://deanmyerson.org/hoh-2019.

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 8:09 am
by retired jerry
I can see them. I must be special.

Great pics. Olympics are very scenic.

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 8:18 am
by RobFromRedland
drm wrote:
May 14th, 2019, 8:02 am
Jerry - Got two years to go before I can get that.

Rob - Not sure what the problem is, I'm still. seeing them, assume Jerry is as well since he didn't mention them. They are also at http://deanmyerson.org/hoh-2019.
Very strange - I still dind't see them - looked at my browser console and it looks like the requests never get a response. So I went to your page and saw all of them. Came back here and they all appeared.

Go figure....

Beautiful photos. We did the Enchanted valley a couple years ago and it was beautiful - Rainy, but beautiful. The trailwork they did was impressive. It is a HUGE job, but they do try and keep on top of it. All the trees are so big!

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 9:24 am
by Don Nelsen
Dean,

Great report - thanks! Brings back some good memories.

Looks like that tree Betsy is posing by hasn't changed much in 10 years:
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Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 9:36 am
by retired jerry
Has Don changed much in 10 years? :)

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 10:25 am
by Don Nelsen
retired jerry wrote:
May 14th, 2019, 9:36 am
Has Don changed much in 10 years? :)
Nope. - except I don't carry 50 lb. packs any more :(

Re: Hoh River Trail, Olympic NP

Posted: May 14th, 2019, 2:52 pm
by drm
The two guys carrying AT gear - skis and boots - up that trail, to ski the Blue Glacier, must have been carrying 50 pounds each. That's a long way to carry a ski kit.