The hike that we chose for our first in Olympic National Park was the Hoh Rain Forest. Up until the Thursday before our visit access to the area had been cut off by a washout along the access road in December 2024. Fortunately, the State of Washington was able to fund repairs, and the road reopened on 5/8/2025. The forecast was for a slight chance of showers which seemed fitting for a rain forest hike.
We parked at the Hoh River Trailhead near the Hoh Visitors Center.
Starting just before 6am meant we had the trails to ourselves to start the morning so we began with two popular short loops, the Hall of Mosses and Spruce Trails.
The first loop we came to was the Hall of Mosses Trail.
Hall of Mosses pointer.
The Hall of Mosses Trail is a 0.8-mile interpretive loop with some nice green scenery.
Spring fed Taft Creek.
Start of the one-way loop.
Interpretive sign along the loop.
Looking up from the interpretive sign.
Maple Grove
Nursery log
After completing the loop and returning to the Hoh River Trail we crossed Taft Creek and arrived at a junction with the Spruce Nature Trail.
Fallen sign for the Spruce Nature Trail.
We turned right onto the 1.2-mile Spruce Nature Trail and hiked this loop clockwise.
This was another interpretive loop.
Hoh River from the trail.
This huge root ball was hosting its own mini forest.
Taft Creek
After completing the second loop we turned right onto the Hoh River Trail. Our plan was to hike to 5 Mile Island and then turn around.
The trail extends all the way up to Glacier Meadows below Mt. Olympus.
The section of trail to 5 Mile Island was fairly level with just a handful of short up and downs. The scenery was great as was the weather with some blue sky and just a brief misty shower on our way back to the car.
Violet
Fungi
Another type of violet.
Hoh River
Bunchberry and strawberry bramble
Slug
Trillium
Squirrel
One of the “ups”.
Star flower
Hoh River
Mineral Creek
Scouler’s corydalis along Mineral Creek.
Mineral Creek Falls
Unnamed creek a short distance beyond Mineral Creek.
Waterfall on the unnamed creek.
Sign for the spur trail to Mount Tom Creek Camp.
Wren
Vanilla leaf
Water droplet on a vanilla leaf.
More violets
Salmonberry along the trail.
Big leaf maple canopy.
There were a few obstacles such as this closer to 5 Mile Island.
Cougar Creek crossing.
Marker at the spur trail for 5 Mile Island Camp.
Hoh River at 5 Mile Island Camp.
View upriver from the same spot.
Privy at 5 Mile Island Camp.
Crow
Cat Peak, Mount Carrie, and Ruth Peak partly under clouds.
Cat Peak
After a nice long break at 5 Mile Island Camp we headed back to the trailhead. We’d had the trails pretty much to ourselves until the return trip when we started encountering an increasing number of folks on the trail.
We saw a lot of robins, on this hike and the over the next four days.
Slug
Candy flower
Almost back to the trailhead.
This was the longest hike of our week coming in at 13 miles and 400′ of elevation gain.
It was a beautiful hike, and we can only imagine what the remaining miles of trail might be like. It was obvious why this is such a popular area in the park, and we were glad we’d arrived early enough to enjoy some solitude. It was a great introduction to Olympic National Park. Happy Trails!
Flickr: Hoh Rain Forest
wanderingyuncks 