Distance: 10.4 mi.
Elevation Gain: 300 ft.
Some friends wanted to do a relaxed weekday hike but snow and ice conditions were quite variable up in the mountains, so a low elevation hike seemed like the best option. We decided on the Hoh River Trail for maximum rainforest fun. Due to the uber long drive and equally short daylight hours, we left from Tacoma at 6 AM and after a quick breakfast we arrived at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center at 10:45 and put out our National Parks Pass. We kept an easy pace on the mostly flat trail and didn’t see anyone else after the first quarter mile.
We made a strict turn around time of 1:30 PM so that we could make it back to the coastline of the Pacific Ocean for some sunset shots. Our goal was to make it to the Five Mile Island campsite, and we accomplished our goal by 1 PM. Woohoo! It was a nice spot for a break, too, because we were right on the river and could see snow-capped Mount Carrie out east.
Photo: Joey Kotnour
On the way back it was a bit surreal that we were already experiencing dusk conditions by 3 PM. But it made for some nice golden hour sunrays through the old growth forest. We kept ourselves entertained by playing the conversation game “Connection” and made good time on our hike out. We finished up at 3:25 PM and made it to the coast just in time for sunset.
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Gear Used:
- Day packs
- GPS
- Hiking boots (Joey, Andrew)
- Trail runners (Vanessa, Jessica)
- Trekking poles (Andrew)
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