Hoh River Trail to Blue Glacier — Thursday, Jun. 8, 2023

Just got back from a trip to Blue Glacier via 2 nights at Lewis Meadow. We had a great time but the trail has some new hazards, especially this time of year.

Around mile 8, the Hoh has rerouted and there are two new crossings, at least until the flow subsides. The first has a log bridge about 100 yards upstream, with a clear boot trail on both sides to rejoin the main trail. The second crossing is about 50 feet across and only knee deep. From there, nothing to report until after Lewis.

Lewis Meadow itself is in great shape, all the spots along the bluff past the group site are currently right along a branch of the Hoh, it will be a few weeks at least until you can camp on the sand bars.

Just after Elk Lake, there is a new washout with a small creek running through it. Follow the cairns or just pick the safest spot to drop in and hike back out, it’s not particularly difficult.

SCARY SPOT about a mile before the ladder, there is a small rockslide that has filled in a steep ravine over a very exposed cliff section. It only covers about ten feet of the trail, but the scree pile wanted to slide with each step we took. I personally would not have continued beyond this if I was alone, but with a small group and a SatCom device we decided it was within our risk margin. Not a difficult crossing at all, but extremely exposed.

The ladder and rope are in good shape, although there is a rapidly melting snowfield at the bottom, and a bear carcass as well. We spiked up at the top, which helped on the ladder and to get across the snowfield at the bottom.

No hazards to report after that, the uninterrupted snow line starts about a half mile past Glacier Meadow and continues to both the lateral and terminal moraine overlook. We followed a boot pack up to the ridge in between the two, and turned around there.

Left Lewis at 7:45, got to overlook at 1:30, stayed for 15 minutes, back to Lewis by 5:45. Raining the entire time but we got a nice view of the glacier, there was a layer of high clouds obscuring Mount Olympus and an inverted layer of lower clouds filling in the river valleys. Classic Olympics view!

Poles and spikes were absolutely essential at this time of year, I think it will be another month before I’d attempt the fords and snowfields without them. Lots of folks day hiking from the Hoh VC but we were all alone past Lewis. Saw two mountaineering groups coming up later in the day, and the weekend backpacking crowd was headed in as we were leaving this morning.