Mt Olympus – Days 4 & 5

The weather report that we had gotten while still at the Hoh Visitor Center was now four days old. It had indicated potential rain on the last day and a half of our trip. We had experienced beautiful weather thus far and the promise of rain really didn’t concern us too much as we were on our way out. We were in a rain forest anyways so we should expect rain, right? We broke camp at a relatively leisurely pace and everyone seemed in good form after the grueling, 16 hour summit day.

The first obstacle, about 1/2 mile out of the Glacier Meadows campsite, was the ladder. This time it was a climb up 1,700 feet on the ladder with a pack that was still heavy. Once that obstacle was conquered, we hiked mostly downhill to our camp for the evening at the Olympus Guard Station. We were able to get a group campsite fairly close to the Hoh River and spent several hours with our tired feet in the cold water. A mom and two fawns had the same idea as they wandered the river right in front of me – the Mom pooped on the bank and one of the babies peed in the river. Photo proof that you should always filter and sterilize your water, no matter how clean it looks!

On the left hand side, the rounded feature covered with snow is the Snow Dome. The summit of Mt Olympus is not visible in this photo but is behind the Snow Dome.
Ambro, me and Tatum crossing one of the two river crossings via very convenient fallen logs.
View from the trail with Mt Olympus obscured by trees on the left as the clouds started rolling in.
Beautiful, cushioned trail – so different than yesterday’s ice and scree.
I see potential as another calendar shot – HAHA
Another beautiful days but clouds started looming as we go closer to camp.
Taking a break en route to the next campsite and nursing the wasp stings. Some of our group seemed to be wasp magnets – three of us (me included) escaped any of the carnage, but between the others I think a total of 12 stings were tallied!

Abundant wildflowers, mushrooms, blueberries and huckleberries blanketed the sides of the trail all the way to camp.

Who needs processed food/trail snacks when we have free huckleberries all along the trail?
Looks like someone vomited a box of Peeps
Back to the High Bridge over the Hoh River.
A few red huckleberries on this log.
Giant mushrooms were all along the trail – foot in photo for perspective.
Just like pretty much everything that is stationary in Washington, sign is covered in moss!
Mama and babies were not at all concerned with us sitting on the opposite bank. Possibly they find that the campground areas are safer because they typically do not see bears and cougars close to the visitors?
“Hey, watch me pee in the river!” Hope everyone downstream is treating their water!
Steve filling up and treating his water.

During the evening the promised thunderstorm rolled in. Using new tents with different angles, flaps and vents, we spent most of the evening moving around inside the tent trying to avoid the drips and raindrops that came in. The tents were mountaineering tents – single-walled with no rain flys. HMMM

The next morning we didn’t get up real early as it was still raining. As we slowly packed up and ate breakfast, the rain temporarily stopped. We all had our rain gear and were excited to use it but unfortunately, wearing raingear and hiking with heavy packs, one sweats too much. Most of us ended up hiking out in shorts and t-shirts, hoping it wouldn’t rain too hard! Those that wore their raingear soon regretted that move!

Columbian Blacktail Deer – like the ones we saw by the river the day prior, not afraid of people.
Another fun log crossing – this time the logs were nice and slippery!
“Nurse logs” were abundant in the rainforest.
A few sun breaks teased us through the morning.
Screen saver? Hard to believe there are so many shade of green!

We made it back to the trailhead, pulled all the group gear (fuel, tents, etc.) out of our packs, had a few quick goodbyes and were on our way. I was looking forward to changing out of my wet clothes and a nice hot shower!

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