Olympic NP: Seven Lakes Basin, Blue Glacier, Hoh River Valley

Who: Matt, George, Scott

When: Sept. 20-23

Activity: Backpacking in Olympic National Park

George was home in Portland so we planned a trip in the Olympics with his brother Scott. Campsites were limited so we planned to spend our second night at Olympic Guard Station which is in the Hoh River Valley. Initially we had planned to bring a single car and hike back the way we had came but Scott noticed this and thankfully warned against this itinerary:

 

Bogachiel @ 5474 feet... OGS @ 948. Might be good to reconsider ;)

With the added perspective on elevation we decided to bring two cars and drop the second car at the Hoh Rainforest VC parking lot to save our legs from the ascent back up to Seven Lakes Basin.

 

The trip itself went off without a hitch. We started on Sunday driving from Seattle to Port Angeles where we picked up another bear canister and our permits. We continued on to the Hoh Rainforest VC to drop George's car, then returned to the Sol Duc trailhead to get started. This was admittedly a lot of driving but given the circumstances I think worth the extra effort. We got on the trail and hiked a short 5 miles to our first campsite at appropriately named Rocky Creek.

The next day we ascended up to the proper Seven Lakes Basin area and High Divide. We had a decent amount of cloud coverage but we still had a number of sweet views of this area. We spotted several bears munching throughout the day, most of them from a safe distance.

 

Seven lakes basin

Classic PNW view

 

By the time we reached Bogachiel Peak the clouds had coalesced and we had no view of the Pacific ocean, so we started our descent down into the Hoh river valley. This descent was very very long and pretty brutal on our bodies, plus some intermittent rain did not help our spirits. We were happy to reach Olympic Guard Station and set up camp for the night.

The next morning we day hiked further up the Hoh river valley to see Blue Glacier. This was a solid 9 miles and 3000 feet and elevation to the glacier so we brought our dinners and stove just in case we needed to some extra nutrition in the evening on the way back. The day hike was wonderful and the glacier was impressive - a true 'oh shit' moment for both George and I when we crested over the ridge to finally see the ice. The descent from the glacier went smoothly and we reached our campsite just after dark.

Blue glacier

Tuesday night it started raining around 2am and did not stop. Wednesday morning we packed up our campsite in the rain and got moving early so we could reach our car with enough time to complete the drive back to Seattle comfortably. Our hike out through the valley was flat and not too strenuous but the amount of water in the trail was impressive. It's been awhile since I've gotten that wet while camping and we were all extremely relieved that our destination for the day was our car. 

 

Once we reached the cars we got changed and hit the road back to Seattle. Till next time Olympic peninsula!

One last note, George drinks so much fucking water it's insane. Apparently he drinks 5 liters of water on a normal day, I think during the trip he was doing more like 7-8 liters per day. He continuously had to pee and stopped once every 30-60 minutes while hiking and driving. George if you're reading this, you gotta slow down dude.