HOH LAKE TRAIL

Length 6.5 mi/10.5 km
Access Hoh Trail; High Divide Trail; Bogachiel Trail
USGS Map Bogachiel Peak
Agency Olympic National Park

Hoh Lake is a gem in the Olympic high country, but the trail leading to it 
requires a bit of strenuous hiking. The path begins 0.5-mi/0.8 km cast of 
Olympus Ranger Station where it intersects the Hoh Trail at 1000 ft/305 m 
above sea level. The trail ascends a steep, forested spur to the lake, then 
traverses high, open slopes to Bogachiel Peak. The trail has thirty-three 
switchbacks in all- twenty-nine of them below the lake. In 1978 the largest 
forest fire in the history of the national park blackened about a thousand 
acres of virgin timber near Hoh Like, including much of that in the switchback 
section of this trail. Most of the trees were killed, but some survived on the 
perimeter of the burn. The fire was caused by a lightning strike.

On the Hoh bottomlands the trail has a gentle grade as it meanders among big 
firs and the vine maple to Lake Creek (0.6 mi/1.0 km), which chatters madly 
as it rushes down toward its rendezvous with the Hoh. After paralleling the 
stream briefly, the trail climbs via long switchbacks shaded by dense stands 
of tall hemlock. At the fourth switchback it enters the devastated area (1.0 mi/
1.6 km; 1500 ft/457 m), where the scene is appalling. The forest on this slope 
was primarily large, old growth western hemlock with some Douglas fir. Between 
this point and the twenty-second switchback on Broomstick Ridge, the trail 
switchbacks in and out of the burned area, and the contrast is striking. But 
already nature has started to heal the wounds-in many places tiny conifers two 
or three inches high are springing up from the burned soil. On Broomstick Ridge 
the thick stands of small, slender trees were also killed, and the trail now goes 
through a ghost forest, the bark having sloughed off many trees. Mount Tom is 
visible through the fire-killed timber.

Upon attaining the crest of the spur (3.5 mi/5.6 km; 3500 ft/1067 m), the grade 
eases, the burned district is left behind, and the trail climbs through stands 
of tall silver fir. The path then leaves the ridge and crosses several streams 
as it goes through a wet area. The country now becomes a mix of meadows and 
groves of subalpine trees - primarily silver fir, mountain hemlock, and Alaska 
cedar - and the slopes above and to the west of Hoh Lake come into view. Here 
islands of burned trees are mingled with the living ones. This was not the main 
area swept by the fire, but close to the perimeter, and the patches have created 
strikingly beautiful silver forests of fire-killed trees.

The path then comes out into a meadow that has the odd name C. B. Flats (4.8 mi/
7.7 km; 4050 ft/1234 m). This grassy area is surrounded by subalpine forest and 
strewn with sandstone boulders. Mount Olympus is visible from this point, and at 
the meadow's far edge Lake Creek thunders down the mountainside. The trail crosses 
the stream below two waterfalls, then switchbacks up to Hoh Lake, the creeks source 
(5.3 mi/8.5 km; 4500 ft/1372 m).

This deep, orbicular lake occupies a dish-shaped glacial cirque. The slopes are 
covered with heather and clusters of subalpine firs, and herds of elk are often 
observed here. Mount Olympus and Mount Tom loom high above the Hoh Valley to the 
south. The lake contains Eastern brook and rainbow trout, but it often remains 
frozen until mid-July, and sometimes well into August. When the snow melts, rolling 
meadows appear, crisscrossed with elk trails and colorful with beargrass and lupine. 
On the northern, shaded sides of the ridges, the snowdrifts remain until late in 
the season, long after the south-facing slopes are covered with mountain flowers.

Sunrises and sunsets are memorable when viewed from Hoh Lake. Mount Olympus takes 
on soft, velvet white in the morning, but it is more colorful at sunset when the 
alpenglow reflects various tones of pink, gold, and purple. After the sun has 
disappeared behind the western ridges, the summit snows are still bathed in bright 
sunlight, but the hemlocks near the lake form dark silhouettes. Fog settles heavily 
here, and it is often misty and cold-especially when the lake is still frozen.

The National Park Service has temporarily closed Hoh Lake to camping in order to 
restore the vegetation. Although the only places burned near the lake were two knolls 
covered with subalpine fir, the heavy use by backpackers over the years, aggravated 
by the effects of the firefighters' camps, has severely damaged the subalpine plant 
life. Alternate sites for camping are available at C. B. Flats and on the High Divide.

Beyond Hoh Lake the trail climbs toward the High Divide, switchbacking up through 
subalpine country to a promontory on the eastern rim of the cirque. Here the view 
of the upper Hoh Valley, the Bailey Range, and Mount Olympus is spectacular. When 
the mountains are still blanketed with heavy snow in early summer, the contrast 
with the dark green forests and the river is marked.

The trail then contours steep slopes overlooking the Hoh and ends just below the 
summit of Bogachiel Peak, where it intersects the High Divide Trail and the 
Bogachiel Trail (6.5 mi/10.5 km; 5200 ft/1585 m).