View Full Version : Hoh Rain Forest Trails
Traveler
05-21-2016, 04:15
Short notice and looking for some ideas.
I have an opportunity on Monday 5/23 to hike a bit in the Hoh rain forest out on the Olympic peninsula. Does anyone have a suggestion of what trail(s) I should take? I will have decent boots with me and rain gear, but am a little limited on time and can probably do about 8 miles or so on a day hike before I have to leave the Park.
Thanks in advance!
I walked up the trail from the campground an early evening and saw an entire heard of elk crossing the Hoh river.
Easy hike, spectacular results, continue on set up a campsite for yourself: just sign in with the ranger. Ask for likely campsites, will you need to use a compass (yes) or GPS, and look back frequently because it all looks different from the other direction and because there are numerous animal trails, so how do you know you are on the trail on the map.
The ranger is the right person to see.
Have a concern for "widow-makers" on the road in and out and at the campsite you make, if allowed.
The last time I was there, a really big fat cedar tree fell across the road. It was a long wait.
Water Rat
05-21-2016, 08:27
With only a day for hiking... You might look into a visit to the Sol Duc Valley. Amazing place and offers easy access (so you don't spend half your day driving!) to some awesome trails. A bonus is that the trails usually are not that populated this time of year. Hot springs, Sol Duc Falls, Deer Lake was a fun scamper at just under 8 miles round trip. You really can't go wrong in that area.
Have fun - The area is gorgeous!
Water Rat
05-21-2016, 08:29
Oops - I meant to provide you with a link to some of the maps so you can see if the Sol Duc trails might be something that works for you.
https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-sol-duc-valley.htm
Traveler
05-21-2016, 08:50
Thank you for the maps link!
I will be in Forks, so Sol Duc trails aren't that far away (an hour or so?).
The REI national parks app might be helpful to you.
Have fun.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Shutterbug
05-21-2016, 10:01
Short notice and looking for some ideas.
I have an opportunity on Monday 5/23 to hike a bit in the Hoh rain forest out on the Olympic peninsula. Does anyone have a suggestion of what trail(s) I should take? I will have decent boots with me and rain gear, but am a little limited on time and can probably do about 8 miles or so on a day hike before I have to leave the Park.
Thanks in advance!
Just a personal opinion. I would do the Ozette Loop Trail instead of the Hoh Rain Forest. It is close by. The Ozette Loop is a 9 mile hike that includes a hike through the same kind of rain forest as the Hoh and a 3 mile section along the beach of the Pacific. You will need to pay attention to the tides, but will really enjoy the scenery. It is my favorite hike in the Olympic National Park.
Have you ever experienced ONP?
One of the problems I recognize with O NP done in a day agendas is that it's really a complex NP having three distinctly different environmental experiences that would be darn hard experiencing all in a day. Pacific Coastal, Glaciated Upcountry with significant annual westside snowfall, and Rain Forest/hot springs. Plus long river hikes and large lakes with trails. I'd say pick one or two to experience as a day hiker that seems to really want to stretch his legs out.
If you could do the 9 mile Triangle as Shutterbug suggested and squeeze in a drive up to Hurricane Ridge for say sunset and some short wanderings about on a clear day I'd say you did well for a done in a day scenario. Time for some grilled oysters at Kokpellis in Port Angeles.
Traveler
05-21-2016, 18:45
Dogwood, I get your point and had I not been there before that would be a good route. I've been into the ONP more than a few times, but not on the western side. I've seen a fair bit of it from the eastern side poking into it from the National Forests from the Staircase Rapids, into Lena Lakes and Brothers Wilderness areas, into Dosewallips, up the Duckabush and upper Dungeness. I've been up to and around Hurricane ridge and that area. I have the opportunity to stay in Forks and take a day to get into the rain forest on that side. Lord knows when I will be back to this area again never mind on the windward side.
The tides may not be my friend this week, but I am seriously thinking about the Triangle, with the Sol Duc Valley as a standby. I will be in Forks, so I think I am well positioned.
Thanks everyone for the feedback!
BTW Traveler, after several previous O Peninsula backpacking trips that I vastly enjoyed I'm planning 20 days again mostly in O NP in late July/early Aug… about a 110 mile Bailey Range Traverse starting at the Staircase TH at Lake Cushman followed up by the PNT from Cape Alava crossing O NP and the O P to Oroville WA. Really looking forward to these hikes. O NP is in my Top 10 NP in the Lower 48 NP list. You'll have a great time in O NP.
Shutterbug
05-21-2016, 21:14
Dogwood, I get your point and had I not been there before that would be a good route. I've been into the ONP more than a few times, but not on the western side. I've seen a fair bit of it from the eastern side poking into it from the National Forests from the Staircase Rapids, into Lena Lakes and Brothers Wilderness areas, into Dosewallips, up the Duckabush and upper Dungeness. I've been up to and around Hurricane ridge and that area. I have the opportunity to stay in Forks and take a day to get into the rain forest on that side. Lord knows when I will be back to this area again never mind on the windward side.
The tides may not be my friend this week, but I am seriously thinking about the Triangle, with the Sol Duc Valley as a standby. I will be in Forks, so I think I am well positioned.
Thanks everyone for the feedback!
One aspect of the Ozette Triangle hike that some don't like is amount of board walk involved. Quite a bit of the trail is through rain forest where it is too wet for traditional trail building. In those areas the trail is on board walk. When it rains, the board walks can be slick.
If you do decide to do the Ozette Triangle, study the "Wedding Rocks." Wedding Rocks is a group of rocks with approximately 30 petroglyphs. There are no signs identifying them, so one has to know where to look. The petroglyphs are below water at high tide.
I am attaching a memo about the Wedding Rocks petroglyphs.
The mandatory permits serve an essential service there, especially for the beaches.
If there is a storm far out in the ocean, the tides are so much higher there can be no beach and no exit.
The beaches and beach heads can change that much.
I lived nearby, and spent my summers on the wild side of Hood Canal.
I have been everywhere mentioned, so far.
The Ozette triangle is green and can be very wet and has the petroglyphs, if you can find them, but it is not the true rain forest of the Hoh or any of the river valleys into the interior on the west side of Olympic National Park, and that is more likely to give you an authentic NorthWest rain forest experience.
daddytwosticks
05-22-2016, 07:10
...look out for that Mick Dodge dude when you go!
Seriously, that area is on my bucket list to hike. Simply beautiful. :)