Today we are visiting the enchanted Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. Along with our 3 kids, and Grandma, I am excited to take everyone to this magical place. See what makes the Hoh Rainforest one of the most unique places you’ll want to see for yourself!
Planning
Today is Grandma’s birthday, and we’re taking her somewhere special. Our plan is to start our day early in the enchanted Hoh Rainforest. This is a very popular area of Olympic National Park and when the parking lot is full, they meter traffic. That means they stop cars at the entrance station and don’t allow a car in until another car comes out. And we’ve heard people having to wait 2 hours just to get in! Not to mention it’s a Saturday, so we plan to leave Forks where we’re staying by 7:30AM. And since the Hoh Rainforest is so remote, it’s almost an hour from Forks. So, our goal is to get there before 8:30AM. And of course we’ll have our GuideAlong app plugged in to learn more about the Hoh Rainforest on the way.
My son Drew and I visited the Hoh Rainforest back in January 2020. And we are excited to finally bring the rest of the family here. But when we came previously, the visitor center was closed. So, we look forward to checking it out this time. But what we really want to do is the Hall of Mosses Trail. This short 0.8 mile loop trail is a wonderful walk through the lush green landscape here. Afterwards, we can also hike the 1.2 mile Spruce Nature Trail which goes through dense forest along the Hoh River. So we allow 4 hours to get there and back and explore the area. We’ve also told our daughter it’s an enchanted rainforest and that we need to look for fairies. You can learn more about it here: Visiting the Hoh Rain Forest – Olympic National Park (nps.gov).
Getting to the Hoh Rainforest
We leave late around 7:50AM from Forks and get on Highway 101. For 13 miles we drive south until turning left onto Upper Hoh Road. And 5 minutes on the road we are stopped by a light. There is construction going on, and it’s a 1 lane road here. So, after some cars pass us, the light turns green and we can go. We can see the Hoh River on our right side. And we learn from the GuideAlong app, that the large concrete-looking anchors we see are engineered logjams. These concrete barriers prevent bank erosion, protect the road from flooding and ensure the natural flow of the river.
Once through, we can see more of the rebar-enforced concrete anchors being installed along the river bend. And a little further Becky points out some Roosevelt elk she sees by the river. But again we get stopped for another 1-lane crossing. After going again, we eventually see an Olympic National Park sign. Though we don’t stop to take a picture. And 2 minutes later we are stopped a 3rd time.
It is now 8:38AM, and we are stopped at the Hoh entrance station. There are 7 cars in front of us, but we’re not moving. And we see a sign that the parking lot is full. This means they’re not letting a car in until one comes out. But after a short time, we see a car coming out. And sure enough 1 car in front of us goes in while more cars pile in behind us. This goes on for about 20 minutes, and we are finally in. But we’re still 5.5 miles from the visitor center, and it takes another 20 minutes arriving at 9:18AM.
The Hoh Visitor Center
We see a lot of cars leaving on the drive in. And when we get to the visitor center parking lot, we actually see many open spots. Once parked, we get out to stretch and walk toward the visitor center. But we stop at the sign first and someone graciously takes a picture of all of us. With that done, we head to the restrooms at the visitor center before heading inside.
The visitor center is small but very nice. The center has some exhibits about the trees and wildlife here, and of course passport stamps. And it has as a little store where Becky gets our daughter another stuffed animal. This time it’s a little river otter hand puppet that now will go on the trail with us. Personally I would have picked the stuffed salmon toy. Where else can you get a salmon?
This visitor center is a great place to get information including plenty of free brochures and trail maps. And I ask a park ranger some questions about the trails here which start right behind the center. So after I strap on my GoPro, we start on the accessible mini-trail which loops to the parking lot. On this trail, we see a sign pointing out a large Sitka spruce tree, a glimpse of what we’ll see. And we pass the turn for the Spruce Nature Trail. As we turn for the Hall of Mosses we see a lot of berry bushes we identify as salmonberry. Though we don’t see any berries since they ripen in early summer. And just afterwards we see a small bridge over a crystal clear creek.
Start of the Hall of Mosses Trail
At the bridge Drew notices a lot more people here than last time. And on the other side of the little bridge starts a footpath up. It’s a little steep, so I help my mom up the path. She turns 76 today and is doing great with her trekking poles but I grab her hand. Once up we see 2 large fallen trees over our heads laying across each. We actually have to walk under them to continue up the trail some more. Finally we get to a fork where we see a one-way sign pointing left. We guess this is where the Hall of Mosses loop actually starts.
We turn left and still have to go up though the trail starts to flatten out. And here we start to see a lot more of the large trees. We also pass a lot of cut logs that must have fallen on the trail. Our daughter sees what’s left of a large tree and says fairies may live in there. But she says, it has spider webs so they can’t still live in there. And after this tree we start to see a flat trail path and it starts to feel like we’re entering the enchanted Hoh Rainforest. We start to see shapes in the forest…
We get to a spot where we see 2 benches and a side-trail to our left. So, we head left passing part of a tree we think looks like a wolf or large cat. This side-trail is fenced on both sides and leads us to a covered area. And inside the canopy of trees the fence ends at a magical spot.
The Magical Spot
There’s a couple others here when we get here, but this place is totally secluded. And you feel that you are really in the middle of the enchanted Hoh Rainforest. It is full of lush green vegetation from ferns on the ground to large moss-covered trees. We are surrounded by it, and it truly is a magical spot.
Right in front of the fence are rows of ferns as if almost planted here. And behind are big leaf maples and other trees covered in moss. The tree limbs look like arms reaching out and we can only wonder if the fairies live here.
And though it looks really lush now, it is even more so in the rainy season. It’s been such a dry summer in the park there is currently a fire ban in effect. And we can see some of the moss is turning brown. But this is still such a magical spot on this trail you have to see.
More Highlights of the Hall of Mosses Trail
As we continue back on the main trail, we see some larger trees covered in more moss. We also spot a nurse log with some Sitka spruce trees growing out of it. The rainforest floor is so dense that tree seeds don’t always make it to the ground. But fallen trees that start to decay are a fertile place for these seedlings to grow. And multiple trees are growing out of this one nurse log.
A little further down I spot something that actually looks like a fairy and take a picture. I show our daughter and she says “it’s a fairy!” So, we stay on the lookout for more. But probably one of the most recognizable spots on the trail is the tree arch. Could this be a doorway to a magical place? Absolutely!
Another couple is in front of us, and I take their picture under the arch. Then we stop to take a couple pictures while another group comes behind us. And they offer to take pictures of all of us. Some of my best pictures are from complete strangers. But it’s easy to take pictures in the enchanted Hoh Rainforest, especially with wide-angles.
We walk through one area of very large moss-covered trees that make us look small. And some of them we see have huge roots spreading out around them.
One of them has holes through it were you can see all the way through. And there’s a few knobs inside that look kind of like fairies poking their heads out to see us. This is truly an enchanted place.
Finishing the Trail
We make it back to the start of the loop in 45 minutes, and then head back down to the bridge. And we make it back to the visitor center in exactly an hour. Though Grandma took a couple breaks, she finishes the hike with us and feels good!
Grandma’s ready for a well-deserved break. It’s about 15 minutes before 11:00AM and they are planning to do a ranger-led program. But Grandma doesn’t want to hang outside, so we head back to the car. We were originally planning to leave by now, but it took us longer to get here than expected. And we are still planning to visit the Lake Crescent area this afternoon. So after some discussion, we decide not to do another trail here so we have time to kayak on the lake. And we need to find lunch on the way.
Leaving the Hoh Rainforest
We really enjoyed our time in the enchanted Hoh Rainforest, and we are glad we got here early. When we pass the entrance station at 11:09AM, we see more cars backed up. We see a lot more cars. And once through I start a video of the cars in line.
My video is almost a 1.5 minutes long and ends at mile-marker 12, which I believe is a mile from the entrance station. I’m not sure the exact distance, but I counted 86 cars on my video and I didn’t even start it from the beginning. I hope more cars are leaving soon, because it took 20 minutes for 8 cars to go through this morning. At that rate, it’ll take 3-4 hours for all of these cars to get through. Not far past the last car, we see the park sign. And then we turn right into the parking lot for the Hard Rain Cafe.
Hard Rain Cafe Lunch
We are already hungry, so we decide to stop at the Hard Rain Cafe on the way out. But we aren’t the only ones. There are multiple cars turning into here at once, so we rush inside to order some food to go. We don’t want to spend a lot of time here since we still have to stop in Forks. We plan to change before heading to Lake Crescent. So, we go inside and get in line.
They have a little store in here with souvenirs and snacks. But they also have a good selection of lunch items including different burgers, sandwiches and baskets. I order a chicken burger sandwich and Becky and my mom order a chicken fingers and fries basket. Drew orders a BLT and Matt orders a fish basket. And our daughter gets a grilled cheese. You can also order coffee and tea here or grab drinks in the shop.
Once we order and pay, we head outside and wait. They have about 5 picnic tables on the porch but all our taken. So, I decide to walk to the other side where I see a sign for a river walk across the street. Drew and I cross the street to find berry bushes everywhere. And we talk with a local guy about the berries. But after 15 minutes we’re worried about the time, so we head back just before our order is ready. Once we get our food, we decide to eat in the car on the way. The food was hot and everyone enjoyed what they ordered. But now we’re off to our next adventure!
Hoh Rainforest Summary
The enchanted Hoh Rainforest is a magical place whether there are real fairies or not. But you have to get here early. We had to wait through 2 construction stops on the way. And then had to wait 20 minutes to get in. But that was nothing compared to how many cars were backed up when we left. My mom said she heard a lady at the cafe say she counted 97 cars in line! That sounds about right.
But once to the visitor center, we had a great time. The visitor center is very nice and the Hall of Mosses is a must-do in Olympic National Park. And even though it was my 2nd time on the trail, I still love it. And I am glad the rest of family was with me this time, even “Otter” the otter. But next time I will plan more time here to explore other trails. Also, the Hard Rain Cafe and Mercantile turned out to be a great stop for lunch. It’s also best to get there early. And next time I want to take the trail across the street all the way to the river. Next time we come to Olympic, we will definitely plan to come back to the enchanted Hoh Rainforest!
Click here to read about all of our adventures in Olympic National Park.