Hoh River Trail to the Blue Glacier Backpacking in Olympic National Park
This is one of the best multi-day backpacking trips we have ever done. It’s a long journey but worth every step. (All Trails claims 36 miles but our GPS said around 43 miles.) We did this trip in 4 days 3 nights. It could be done in less time, but the 4 days was the perfect amount of time to fully take in this amazing place. In this article, we are going to tell us what our itinerary was and what we would do differently if we did it again. Also, we will discuss what you can expect on the trail as well as a few tips we found that will help you on this journey. You can reserve your Olympic National Park trip here at recreation.gov. The journey begins at the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center and goes all the way up the Hoh River Trail to the trail end at the Glacier Meadows.
Blue Glacier Campsite Itinerary
Going into this trip we had no idea what to expect and we book our trip because there was some last-minute openings while we were inquiring at the WIC. (Wilderness Information Center) We booked our journey with what was available and ended up with.
Night 1 - Olympus Gaurd Sation
Night 2 - Glacier Meadows
Night 3 - Lewis Meadows
This Itinerary worked out pretty well. Honestly, if we did it again and had more options for campsites our ideal itinerary would be as follows.
Night 1 - Lewis Meadows
Night 2 - Glacier Meadows
Night 3 - Olympus Gaurd Station
This itinerary gets you a little bit further the first day at about 10 miles in. From Lewis Meadows once you reach mile marker 12.2 that day prepare to start climbing for the rest of the day. You'll Climb over 2,800 feet in 6 miles to your campsite at Glacier Meadows. We will note that there is plenty of water to filter at Glacier Meadows camp. Also from Mile Marker 12.2 all the way to Glacier Meadows, you'll come across plenty of sports to stop and filter water from Lewis Meadows to Glacier Meadows.
There is a tricky washout section that the NPS makes a big deal about, but if you have made it this far there’s no way you can’t conquer this obstacle. Although I will warn you here that it’s bigger than you think and you will be pretty shocked when you first see it.
From Glacier Meadows to the Blue Glacier Terminal arm you'll climb just under 1000 feet in a mile straight up the rocky moraine to one of the most beautiful views in the lower 48. The terminal Arm of the Blue Glacier is a scene straight out of Alaska and Mt. Olympus still soars about 2,875 feet above you. If you are continuing on to summit Mt. Olympus then camping at Glacier Meadows is a great option. We spent about 2 hours on the Terminal Arm we will note that there’s no water on the trail from Glacier Meadows to the Terminal Moraine so be prepared with plenty to drink!
After all this climbing it’s all downhill from here. You’ll cruise down about 7 miles to the Hoh Ranger Station (Olympus Gaurd Sation). On the way down you’ll notice more scenery that you missed while you were grinding up to the top. The Hoh Ranger Station was one of our favorite campsites there are awesome spots by the river and plenty of streams to get water from so you don't have to rely on the silty Hoh River to filter your water while at this camp. Also, there is an awesome little Ranger Station that was occupied by an NPS Ranger and we got to peek our heads in. We really enjoyed our last night at the Ranger Station campsite there’s plenty to check out around the area in the evening and there’s plenty of resident deer enjoying the lush summer vegetation.
From the Ranger Station, you have an easy relatively downhill hike out along the river. Be on the lookout for wildlife if you started early we spotted a few Elk early in the morning on the trail. Once back at the parking lot you’ll be relieved to see your vehicle or van ready to take you where ever you want to go with an easy push on the gas pedal. What a journey! You’ve made it and you’ll never forget this epic trek through the rain forest to the top of a Glacier. Pat yourself on the back you deserve it!
Water filter sites on the Trail
While everyone will warn you that you can damage your water filtration systems by filtering the silty Hoh River. What they don't tell you is there’s plenty of fresh streams and creeks all along this hike to fill up as you hike. We never had to use the river to filter water once.
We were also told that there wasn't many options for fresh water along the trail past mile marker 12.2. To be prepared for this we had our 3 liter Camelbacks full of water for this climb (that’s over 8 pounds!!). But now after doing we know! We would like to now pass on the knowledge to you that there is plenty of options to filter water during the entire climb once you leave the River at mile marker 12.2. At Martin Creek you'll have a larger creek to filter drinking water out of and from Martin Creek to Glacier Meadows there are plenty of steams and creeks flowing across the trail. Also at Glacier Meadows there is a nice stream right at the campsite so you can head up there and rely on the stream for all your water needs.
We didn't fill our bladders coming down the mountain and had plenty of opportunities to stop and filter water all the way down. We highly recommend the Grayl Water Filtration system it’s so easy to use we also love our squeezable LifeStraw which is much more affordable but not as easy to filter larger amounts of water like filling up a bladder or your JetBoil and is great for day hikes where there’s plenty of streams. Both filtration systems are quick and easy to filter and are very portable.
Reservations are required for this journey and can be done on the recreation.gov website. We will warn you that we saw a ranger and had our permits checked so they are out there and will come down on you if you don't have a permit. Also all campsites mentioned have Bear WIre so a bear canister is not needed, we didn’t use on. I couldn't recommend this trip more to anyone visiting the area. We did it spur of the moment and we love that we were able to do this amazing backpacking excursion.
