In 2011, Joshua Hudson went on 1 trip, hiked a total of 36.5 miles, climbed 5,000 feet, and spent 2 nights under the stars.

Hoh River Trail

36.5 miles of hiking • 5000' elevation gain • 2 nights

My father and I hiked this amazing trail together. It was the first backpacking either of us had done since I was little.

We left the Hoh Visitor center around 11:00 A.M. (My advice, try and leave earlier) and walked all the way to Martin Creek (14.7 miles) on the first day.

The first 12.4 miles of this trail are pretty flat as you work your way up the Hoh River valley. The scenery is amazing and this trail lives up to it's name as one of the best in the Olympic National Park. At 12.4 miles you start a short climb and cross a bridge 100+ above the Hoh River. From here on out on the trail you will be climbing all the way to the top. The elevation gain from the bridge to Martin Creek is fairly brutal as you go up switchbacks for around 2 miles. Having this climb at the end of your day probably makes it harder than it normally would be, but it felt like the climb would never end to us.

We noticed a lot of people continue on to the camp at Elk Lake, but we really enjoyed the camp at Martin Creek. For one, you can light a fire, and secondly there are less people, in fact we were the only ones staying the night there that night.

The next morning we woke up and continued the hike up to the Glacier Meadows campground (Around 17 Miles). The trail from Martin Creek to Glacier Meadows was a pretty decent climb, but seemed easier than the climb we did the day before. There are parts where the trail gets pretty narrow, but the views make it all worth it.

About a half mile from the Glacier Meadows camp, a huge landslide makes you climb down a rope and ladder (see pictures). This can seem daunting but if you take it slow, you will make it through this section, it is by far the most technical part of this trail. Most of the snow was melted on the landslide by the time we went through.

We setup camp at Glacier Meadows and then hiked the last 1 mile to the Glacier Meadows. The meadows are not huge but have some amazing mountain flowers and the view is simply stunning. After a short rest, we climbed up the rest of the way to the edge of the Blue Glacier (18.1 Miles). Not all the snow had melted for this last little climb, but we took it slow and made it to the top just fine without the use of any special equipment.

The sky was clear and we got to see Mt. Olympus and the Blue Glacier in all their glory. I can honestly say that this is a view that I will forever treasure. Pictures can not do it words and it made the entire trip worth it.

We walked back to the Glacier Meadows campsites and stayed the night. We woke up the next morning by 6 a.m. and walked the full 17.1 miles out. If I could of done it over I would probably of added an extra day so that the hike out could of been shorter. It took us around 8 hours of straight walking to get out and we were back to the car by 2:00 p.m.

The motto we came up with for this trail was: "Hard. But Worth It". It truly was, but I can't wait to get back out and explore more of that park.

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