Starting off on a carpet of dry moss and fallen leaves, the fern lined Hoh River Trail begins in Olympic National Park’s temperate rain forest. This enchanting forest trail is generally flat for the first 13 miles, and proves to be quite popular. As the trail shifts toward its climb toward Mount Olympus and Glacier Meadow, the cool greens of the rain forest give way to a subalpine meadow and montane forest. Here, overnight hikers have the trail to themselves, destined for campsites at Tom Creek, Five Mile Island, Happy Four, and Glacier Meadow.
   Frequent views of the Hoh River appear along the trail. Its steady surge of milky blue waters fluctuate between winter torrents and calm fall flows. Anglers walk the gravel beds and scale large deposits of fallen timber. Fishing also varies with the water flow from poor to great. Steelhead and Dolly Varden thrill anglers with every fight. This view captures the peaceful Hoh River shrouded in a cool, damp mist. It comes as no surprise as this land receives more than 200 inches of rain every year.

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