These are the notes I took each night while on the Hoh River Trail to the Blue Glacier. They are rough and likely incomplete. The distances are also rough. None of our devices agreed with each other nor did the devices agree with the AllTrails distances. The official National Park Service out-and-back mileage to the Lateral Moraine of the Blue Glacier is 36.2 miles.
If you want to see the vertical profile, go look at the route on AllTrails. It is basically flat, then less flat, then steep, then really steep and you’re at the glacier at around 5000 feet, then you turn around and come back down. Thankfully, there is not a lot of up-and-down.
Day One: Hoh River Trailhead to Five Mile Island (~5 miles)
Pack so heavy
But felt great
Massive trees
Several breaks
Hammock was an easy setup.
Enjoying my time with my friends!
Ate: Half beef jerky packet on trail. Some cashews before dinner and then Peak Biscuits and Gravy which were excellent.
Day Two: Five Mile Island to Lewis Meadow (~6 miles)
Had a restless sleep but I think I’m figuring out how to work this thing. Was up at 4:30a and out of hammock by 6am. Not on the trail until 11:30. Much more long stretches of up and down today, but still mostly flat. Lots of friendly people on the trail. Camp site at Lewis Meadow is pretty but water is a serious hike across the dry riverbed.
Multiple crossings on logs. Barefoot ford in very cold water. The alternative was crossing on multiple logs that were at tricky angles.
Saw two guys doing 45 miles and Olympus summit in single day out and back, started at 2am. Beasts.
Ate: The concoction for breakfast. On the trail ate half a beef jerky, cliff bar, yellowfin tuna with EVOO, starkist salmon, jif peanut butter, one square dark chocolate, handful of cashews. Dinner was Mac and cheese mixed with Patagonia salmon filet and a few brownie bites. So full.
Lots of bear scat but no bears.
Dave and Roshni not continuing due to massive blisters on Dave’s feet. We are sorry to separate from them but they said they’ll essentially enjoy two vacations as Dave heals enough to walk out. The plan is for them to leave us a note at the Olympus Guard Station to let us know where we can find them on our way back down.
Day Three: Lewis Meadow to Elk Lake (~4 miles)
Had to adjust the hammock last night at about 2:30a but slept better afterward. Longer stretches of sleep last night which is good. Up at 6:30a, on the trail at 9:30a.
Amazing bridge over the river. After that it was straight up 1500 feet. Extremely pretty river crossing with waterfalls. Soaked my feet and dunked my head. Last chance for water before the camp site which was another 1/3 of a mile with additional vertical.
Like my hammock spot but will try to rig an under quilt because sleeping pad is not working at all.
Swam in elk lake! Walked along a log out into the water then jumped in with my clothes on to do some laundry and get clean simultaneously. Felt so great! Stripped off the clothes to give them and me some good scrubbing and had a great swim amongst hundreds of huge tadpoles.
Abandoned the rigged quilt idea and used my sleeping pad but didn’t inflate it as much to make it less rigid. That was the trick!
Ate: The concoction for breakfast, two bars on the trail and about 1.75 oz of beef jerky on the trail. Finished the jerky at camp then had double serving of spaghetti with meat sauce plus a hickory smoked tuna packet for dinner. 15 cookie bites for dessert. Excellent!
Day Four: Elk Lake to Blue Glacier and Back to Elk Lake (~5 miles)
Up at 6:30a on the trail by 8:30a. Emptied our packs completely then packed just the essentials and knocked out 2500 vertical over about 5 miles to the Blue Glacier. Handled the ladder/rope situation pretty well. Brian almost got hit by a falling rock thanks to an anxious hiker at the ladder above him.
Hard ascent over glacier scrabble. Sun glaring and hot. Used a small water pool fed by snow back to cool off my head and neck.
Got to the lateral moraine above the glacier and it was just unreal. There was much celebration. Hard to take it all in.
Had lunch at the glacier, hung out, then headed back and did the 2500 vertical down.
Injury report: Brian got a serious scratch down his shin. Cracked open the first aid kit back in camp.
Trekking poles are helping me so much. Especially in the glacier boulder zone.
Last minute decision to try getting to the terminal part of the glacier. I gave it a shot but I was beat so I downed a peanut butter, then turned back and let Ken and Brian check it out. Sounds like it was cool, but I made the right decision.
Ladder heading out was dicey and exhausting. A group of hikers started a rockfall that sent a boulder toward Ken but he stared it down. This was the same group that started a rockfall when Brian was in the ladder earlier in the day.
Got to a water stop and Ken realized his glasses were gone. Later in camp some guys from Ohio that we’d met and became familiar with returned them to us which was awesome.
Ken went swimming in the lake again but I was too tired so I chilled in the hammock. Brian didn’t swim because of the leg gash.
Ate the concoction for breakfast, one cliff bar and a starkist salmon for lunch at the glacier, and a peanut butter on the trail. Handful of cashews at camp. For dinner we had biscuits and gravy then also a chicken pad Thai. Weird combo, but it totally worked. Shared my dark chocolate with Ken and Brian then had a chamomile tea. Bear cans getting empty which feels great.
Day Five: Elk Lake to Five Mile Island (~10 miles)
Slept the best night of the whole trip. Might have been the last one up. On the trail by 8:30, heading to Olympus Guard Station to look for Dave and Roshni or a note from them.
Down, down, and more down. Felt so good, we were really cruising.
Saw a girl with a sheepskin rolled up in her pack. It looked crazy soft. She said it’s great for sleeping. She was traveling alone and went all the way to the glacier. Scandinavian?
Stopped in Lewis Meadow but no sign of Dave. Got to the guard station and were happy to find a note. On one side was a nice watercolor by Roshni. On the other was a poem saying where a nice camp spot was or, if we went four more miles we’d find them at five mile island. We were elated to see a sign of life from them and impressed with the watercolor and the poetry.
Had a long hot lunch then headed out. We were happy to do the nine or ten miles today and save the five for the last day instead of vice versa as was the original plan.
Got to five mile island and found Dave and Roshni in their favorite spot on the river. We were all so glad to see each other!
Brian and I grabbed the same trees we used on our first night for our hammocks. Fun to be closing out the trip where we started and with the group all back together.
Played cards—Brian taught us Presidents, which was fun.
Ate: Concoction for breakfast, peanut butter, cashews on trail, lunch at station was peak pasta marinara plus pink salmon. Chocolate square. Cliff bar. Cashews at camp. Double beef stroganoff, brownie bites, cookie bites, dark chocolate, camomile tea for dinner.
Day Six: Five Mile Island to Hoh River trailhead (~5 miles)
Didn’t sleep as well last night, kind of warm and humid, but still got some sleep.
A large buck and doe came through camp this morning.
Ate: concoction for breakfast. Cliff bar on the trail.
Unbelievable trip. Such a sense of accomplishment at the end–we were all really excited. It felt great to be done, but also kind of sad because it was just so pretty out there. What a gift to be able to completely disconnect from news, politics, and technology and spend that time reconnecting with friends. I honestly couldn’t tell you what day-of-the-week it was while I was out there and didn’t care to know.