Two Girls Roving: Day 11 – Ozette Triangle Backpacking & Hoh Rainforest

Two Girls Roving: The tale of a 16 day, 3522 mile road trip to the Pacific Northwest in celebration of my friend’s college graduation! Follow along for all the shenanigans through thousands of miles, eight National Park Service units, night after night of camping, and even some coastal backpacking!

September 2, 2024

Another damp morning greeted us on the coast as we awoke at Sand Point. After two nights of backpacking the Ozette Triangle, we were looking forward to showers, non-freeze dried food in Forks, and heading into the Hoh Rainforest for a night (and marveling once again at the diversity of Olympic National Park!). A straightforward, 3-mile trek out awaited us once we drank our coffee, downed breakfast, and packed up camp (including Janice shooing a spider that was literally the size of me out of the tent as I screamed I was never backpacking again unless it was on a glacier in the alpine).

We made quick work of the hike out on the last leg of the Ozette Triangle, taking only 1 hour 20 minutes. Unlike the leg to Cape Alava that seemed to go uphill both ways, the stretch from Sand Point was mild and quick on the boardwalks. Brains focused on showers and clean clothes, we didn’t take many photos of this stretch.

Packs hurriedly shoved in the back of the car, we headed the short mile back to the Lost Resort at Ozette for showers – hands down the best $5 I’ve spent in awhile! Because we had camped there before our backpacking trip, we got the discounted rate (so it might have been $3 for the shower? I can’t remember all these months later). After we scrubbed off many nights of camping, hiking, and backpacking, it was time to head back to Highway 101 to continue our Olympic Peninsula adventure.

After a delicious lunch at D&K BBQ in Forks, Janice turned the car onto Upper Hoh Road, which would lead us to our home for the night at the Hoh Rainforest Campground.

Receiving 140 inches of rain a year, Hoh Rainforest is one of four found on the Olympic Peninsula, and is one of the most visited parts of Olympic National Park. The National Park Service had been warning summer about the very lengthy wait times to enter Hoh Rainforest (as they do “one out, one in” since parking is limited), so we braced for the worse as we queued in line (having a camping reservation didn’t matter, we got to wait in line like everyone else). After about 35 minutes, we reached the ranger and continued on our way, which was a relief as wait times of 2+ hours were seen over the summer season.

First up was finding our campsite and setting up camp. The campground is an easy walk from the visitor center and trailhead, so when we headed out for souvenirs and passport stamps we did not need to drive. We learned the superintendent of Olympic National Park won’t allow the visitor centers to sell the cute little stuffed banana slugs because they’re not anatomically correct (eyes are on the antenna in real life!) from a ranger, and we learned about the variety of slugs found in the area. I’m not one for slugs, but I was becoming more brave on this trip on all things slugs! I really was hoping to buy a gigantic stuffed banana slug, so I grumbled far too much for a 40 year old about the superintendent thwarting my hopes and dreams (I bought the small size earlier this summer at Mount Rainier National Park, where they are not as worried about anatomical correctness).

After taking our bounty of stickers and patches back to the campsite we headed out to hike the Hall of Mosses and Spruce Nature Trails, which are hands down the most popular trails at Hoh Rainforest. The combined figure-8 of trails is roughly two miles and decently flat (just a few very short hills), and wanders through old and new growth forests with an abundance of moss and other flora.

Janice and I chose to do a clockwise hike of Hall of Mosses first. I had hiked Hall of Mosses during a previous visit in the spring rain, so it was different seeing it in the dry, late summer conditions. The crowds were annoying, but Janice and I still enjoyed ourselves and took a large amount of photos of the moss, fungi, and nurse trees. (As the proclaimed Moss Lady of the trip, it is only right I took a million photos, so strap in for all the moss photos!)

After wrapping up the 0.8 mile of Hall of Mosses we turned onto the 1.2 mile Spruce Nature Trail, which leads to the Hoh River. Spruce Nature Trail only had a few other people hiking it, so provided great respite from the crowds earlier in the hike. (Hall of Mosses and Spruce Nature Trail can be hiked on their own.) There is one other main trail leaving from the Hoh Rainforest Trailhead, the Hoh River Trail. This trail ends at the base of Blue Glacier and the route up to the summit of Mount Olympus after 18.5 miles. Backcountry campsites are found along Hoh River Trail as well.

Hike finished, it was time for dinner and postcard writing. Our sunny evening slowly turned grey as clouds begun to settle into the valley. I stumbled across a licorice slug in our campsite, much to our delight (Janice is right, I tend to manifest the things I am scared of!). As darkness crept in, we retreated to the tent for our nightly ritual of reading before lights out.

Travel states, facts, & things with no context from Janice and I:

• 3.03 miles of hiking, with 226 feet of elevation gain (probably thanks to the headland trail) in 1 hour 20 minutes Sand Point back to trailhead to finish out our Ozette Triangle backpacking trip
• ~85 miles and 2 hours 5 minutes of driving (not including time waiting to enter Hoh Rainforest)
• 1 NPS unit visited
  • Olympic National Park
    • $30 fee (good for 7 consecutive days) or use an annual federal lands pass such as the America the Beautiful pass
• Heidi will manifest slugs
• Stay on the damn trail

Accommodations for the night:

• Hoh Rainforest Campground
  • Site 34A
  • $24 for tent site (2024)
  • Good cell service (Verizon)
  • The good:
    • Flush toilets and running water
    • Close to Hoh Visitor Center and trailhead
    • Our campsite was very spacious
  • The bad:
    • Wait times to get through the entrance station can be over 2 hours long in the busy summer season. Having a campground reservation does not mean you can bypass the line, so prepare for a long wait if entering before evening hours. Janice and I waited about 35 minutes midday on Labor Day.