After being spoiled by a comfortable bed and shower at Alex (Molly’s cousin) and Alayna’s house in Salem OR, we made our way north to the Olympic peninsula in Washington. Our first campsite was in Ocean City, WA just for one night.
Our first visit to Olympic NP, back in May of 2018, was one of the first backpacking trips we took together. We were so inexperienced. Our packs were so heavy and my hiking boots gave me so many blisters I had to tape my toes together. However, I remember being so amazed by the huge trees, lush dense forests and the water that looked like blue Frost Gatorade, we were hooked. Now we take about two backpacking trips a year.
Our original plan for this trip was to backpack two nights on the north coast of Olympic NP leaving from Rialto beach and two nights in the Hoh rainforest. However, after reading about frequent car break-ins at beach trailheads we decided it was not worth the risk on this trip, so we changed our coastal permit to hike along the Bogachiel trail to Flapjack campsite.
The Bogachiel River is one of several rivers (including the Hoh River) on the west side of the Olympic mountains. As the coastal moisture rises up the mountains it dumps a lot of rain creating a temperate rainforest. The forest is so green, dense and everything is covered in moss.
The Bogachiel river trail was nice for the first eight miles where the forest service did maintenance, the last three miles we had to do some bushwhacking. We did have permits to stay two nights on this trail, but we had enough, so we hiked all the way out after one night. We looked for a dispersed campsite in the Olympic National Forest and got super lucky finding a nice site with its own hidden swimming hole.
Before heading into the Hoh rainforest we hiked along Rialto beach to Hole in the Wall. We explored the tide pools and saw lots of starfish, anemones and even a seal.
Back on our 2018 trip we also hiked in the Hoh rainforest. However, it was early May so we only went as far as the snow would let us. This time Molly was determined to see Blue Glacier at the end of the trail, 17.6 miles in and 5,000′ up. Our first night we found a sandy river site at the Olympus ranger station, only nine (relatively flat) miles in.
We woke up early and hiked up to what was supposed to be our second site at Elk Lake by 9AM. We did not like how crowded sites were and almost all the sites were still occupied with sleepy-heads who hadn’t gotten up yet. We knew we weren’t going to stay at Elk Lake for the night, but we ditched our tent and sleeping gear anyway to shed some weight and made our way up to the glacier. The trail was brutal and it was hot and humid, but the view of Blue Glacier rewarded us at the end.
We ended up hiking all the way back to our original site at the Olympus ranger station. It was a long day, 19.1miles and 4,200′ of elevation gain. The next morning we quickly hiked out of the Hoh rainforest to get some much deserved Taco Bell.
Not Sew Fancy Travels 