What: An easy hike (maybe a slog) in a genuine rain forest.
Where: Take the Edmonds-Kingston or Keystone-Port Townsend ferry, make your way to U.S. 101 and head west. After you pass Forks you’ll come to the Upper Hoh River Valley Road, where you turn left and follow it for 18.6 miles to the Hoh River Visitor Center, where the trail begins.
Length: Up to 11.6 miles round trip, but you can make it shorter, if you wish.
Beginning elevation: 580 feet
Highest elevation: 820 feet
Maps: Green Trails or USGS Mount Tom
Notes: If it hasn’t been wet enough for you lately, pack your rain gear, treat your boots with the waterproofing of your choice and head for the Hoh. This is the season to see a rain forest in all its soggy glory, with huge trees, dripping moss, banana slugs and a variety of fungi. Going in the winter increases the chance of seeing Roosevelt elk that have come down from the snowy highlands, and deer are almost a guaranteed sighting. It’s actually quite beautiful, rain and all, and who knows – you might get a sunny or just cloudy day. The almost level trail follows the river and intersects Mount Tom Trail at 2.9 miles (keep left, unless you want to go up) and Cougar Creek shortly after that. Turning around here makes for a six-mile hike. Or continue to Happy Four Shelter, which my old friend and outdoors writer Seabury Blair Jr. contends should be named Long Five Shelter, since it is actually 5.8 miles from the trailhead. (The lore has it that it is an ironic name, since the four men who built it were very unhappy with one another at project’s end.) There is a side trail to the river from the shelter, or you can sit in the shelter and wring out your socks.
Permits: A national park entrance fee (or annual pass) is required at the gate.
More information: Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center (360-565-3100) or Olympic National Park Visitor Center (360-565-3132)
Ron Ramey
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
