Day 1:
North route from Oil city to Third beach. We started in the evening at oil city due to tide requirements. Headed to camp at the top of Hoh head. Sunset on the slippery rocks to Jefferson cove was beautiful and difficult, good gloves made this doable. Found a dead whale on the rocks about 20 minutes of scrambling due north from the mouth of the Hoh.
Found 2 streams for water filtering in Jefferson cove, it was pitch black and foggy when we got there so we couldn't see much. The climb up the Hoh head ladders at night was difficult but doable with headlamps and gloves.
The current ladders up Hoh head are in bad condition. They are missing parts of the ladders near the bottom so there are some big empty sections to climb over. We found what looked like a set of new, staged ladders and lumber near the top of Hoh head (from talking with a trail-workers: they are due to be installed next year)
Day 2:
I went down to refill water at the bottom of the ladders in Jefferson cove since it was a confirmed water source. The driver to oil city said many of the streams may be dry due to the recent lack of rain but we still found many to filter from. Found another good stream about 1.5 miles from camp at Hoh head. The whole trail on Hoh head to mosquito creek was great! The ranger said there had been re-routes on this section and that was true as well as the whole trail was cleared, so there was no overgrown trails or downed trees to cross. From reading the reports, this is not what we expected :)
We got to mosquito creek in the early afternoon and the fog rolled in. It's low enough to cross on the beach without fording. We decided to make for Toleak point, which was a mistake because that meant hiking at night in the overland trail before Toleak point. Filtering from Goodman creek was bad, the water was very low and salty, we poured it all out when we found a small hillside creek about .5 mile later which wasted another 20 minutes of daylight. The whole overland trail before Toleak point is difficult and overgrown, many blow-downs to cross which slowed us down. This type of overland trail was what I expected on Hoh head. Getting down in the dark was difficult and the trail is eroded in many places and slippery. We setup camp after dark near Toleak point on the beach.
Day 3:
Refilled from the stream at Toleak point, follow the buoys in the woods to find the spot to refill. Good weather made for a nice beach hike in bare feet over to Strawberry point and finally Scott Creek where we camped and had a relaxing day for once. Sunshine and temps in the high 70s made it feel like summer again. Filtering from Scott creek was only possible on the small sandy-beach outlet, the water looks gross but tastes just fine.
Day 4:
Hiked out to third beach in the morning and made it to the car by noon.
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