Sometimes you just donβt want to struggle up another hill. Sometimes youβre tired of pitting out your shirts and outer layers just for a peek at a peak. Sometimes you just want take a blissful stroll through enchanted rainforest and along a lazy but beautiful river and burn your calories by collecting miles.
The Hoh River Five-Mile Island Download
Highlights: The parkβs most famous rainforest, its chummiest river, critters big and small, streams and waterfalls.
Travel Time (from Urban Centers to Park/Trailhead): 3 Β½ hours from Tacoma, 4 minutes 20 minutes from Seattle, 4 Β½ hours from Portland.
Nearby Supplies and Gas: Forks (watch for vampires).
Difficulty: Thereβs one very short stretch when poles may be of assistance for some, but itβs not worth hauling them out for such a tiny fraction of the hike.
Distance: 10.6 miles (out and back).
Entrance Fees: $20 per vehicle, $7 for individuals (walk, bike, etc.), various passes.
Top Elevation: 818 feet.
Elevation Gain: 483 feet.
Trailhead Waypoint: 47.8597, -123.9337
Maps: Green Trails Mt. Olympus No. 134; Custom Correct Seven Lakes Basin-Hoh.
Getting There: If you have a choice (ie, coming from Seattle), heading around Olympia to US 101 North takes you by Lake Quinault, Kalaloch and the beaches; heading south on US 101 will take you through Port Angeles, past Lake Crescent and Forks. Either way, head to Upper Hoh Road, 18 miles long, ending in the parking lot by the visitor center, which is seasonally open. Trailheads are just beyond.
Calling any hike that breaks the 10-mile barrier βeasyβ is a little asinine, but youβd be tempted to do so with this one. Youβll feel the almost 500 feet in elevation gain because almost all of it comes during one short stretch. By then, youβll be so distracted and mesmerized by all that youβve witnessed, it barely will matter.
This hike begins in the Hall of Mosses, for goodness sake. And from there the hits just keep on coming. The initial three-quarters mile is jammed with chattering Douglas Squirrels, jack-hammering woodpeckers and maybe even some of the parkβs famed Roosevelt Elk. The first mile ends with the first clear view of the Hoh River, easy, true and blue, and in places shallow enough for carefree wading.
Also nearby is a fleeting view of snowcapped Mount Tom. Three miles in is my favorite stretch. First, youβre looking down into the Hoh, then will pass through a series of charming streams and cascades. Look upstream into the rainforest and youβll see a couple streams descend from healthy, picturesque waterfalls.
Not long after the so-called βclimb,β youβre not far from Five-Mile Island, formed by river channels. Itβs highly recommended to time your arrival around lunchtime. Itβs easy to pass time by the river, munching and peeping views far into the Hoh River Valley.
This is a year-round hike that offers a lot of natureβs bounty, but the main event, of course, is rolling through grand old growth and fern and twinflower-sprinkled ground carpeted with moss so downy looking, you might be tempted to bed down for a snooze. I made this hike during the fall and was dazzled by the interplay of mossy big timber and the glowing, turned leaves of deciduous trees. Needless to say, no naps were required that day.
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