"Treebeard" Olympic NP part II

Eight days in 3 ecosystems on the Olympic Peninsula; This is the 2nd leg of the trip, with Ritvik in the Hoh River Valley area.

The lowdown: After a nice interlude on th

e beach, I met Rit in Port Angeles. Early the next

morning we headed into the Hoh River Valley. We had 4 days and 3 nights to explore this lush rainforest with a side trip up to Elk Lake. We also got to see some of the most incredible storm damage i encountered all summer on the way to Hoh Lake.

dates: June 29th-July 2nd

mileage, elevation

+/-, pinnacle: 40 mi, 9,400, 4100'

Conditions: The Olympic peninsula experienced an incredibly snowy winter, with 220% of normal snowfall. Though we camped in the valley, Rit got to break in his new crampons on a hike up towards Hoh Lake (though the downfall on that hike was way more of an issue than the snow, more on that below...)

Weather: Nice all 4 days and nights, sunny 60's and nightime 40's. Not bad for a rainforest.

Highlights: Great company, great fishing at Elk Lake, a chance to see the awesome power of nature unleashed in storm damage, an extra backpack means room for the hammock.

Challenges: Navigating the storm damage, Hoh River too swollen to ford or fish.

The Hike: From the Hoh River Trailhead, we hiked in about 4 miles on the 1st day to the Mt Tom campsite, which was beautifully close to the river. We'd hoped to fish the Hoh, but it was way too high. So we got to kick back in camp and plan the next few days. The next morning we set out for the Olympus CS, which was to be out base camp for the next 2 nights. We set camp around midday, then checked in at the backcountry Ranger Station near the junction for the trail up to Hoh Lake, our planned hike for the afternoon. We were warned that the slope we'd need to climb to get into the Hoh Lake basin was littered with deadfall resulting from a vicious spring storm. I felt pretty sure that we could navigate it, and when he told us that there was snow on our route that clinched it. After all, Rit had new crampons we needed to break in.

So we struck out and within a couple of miles we started to make switchbacks up the ridge, a

few hundred yards each way. After the 1st few, we encountered the worst deadfall i've ever seen. I'll let video dave and the camera speak:

So travel up this is just as difficult as the video suggests. And it went on for the better part of 3 hrs. After reaching the ridge, we started to encounter snow, and Rit got to break in his crampons!

Since it took much longer to get to the ridgeline, we were forced to turn back short of Hoh Lake. The following day we continued up the Hoh River valley, towards Elk Lake. This was a truly beautiful section of trail. This forest, with the looming giant pines, moss draped understory and soft green cast of sunlight on abundant random cascades was mythical.

The following morning we continued up the Hoh River valley in the rainforest for about 6 miles to Elk Lake, at 2600', which is gorgeous and full of trout.

We returned that night to our Olympus CS and hiked the 9 miles out the following day, and were Seattle bound for 3 nights in a hotel!