South Fork Hoh River

Day One -- No summer would be complete without my annual trek up the South Fork Hoh. After several days of less than great weather, I took off on Wednesday with a late start. Being alone and having no real goal or destination, I took a lot of breaks, and reached my camp spot after eight miles in the late afternoon. I wandered around taking photos of old growth trees on the flat above the river. As the sun disappeared, the sky turned pink, and soon it was dark.

Day Two -- The morning greeted me with blue skies and big fluffy clouds, and I decided I would at least venture as far up the river as I'd been before. Shortly after leaving camp, I met three climbers on the riverbed who had been hoping to climb in the Valhallas. They'd been camped by the river for several days, waiting for decent weather, but now they were out of time and heading home.

After the first canyon, travel upriver becomes increasingly difficult, and some might even call it dangerous. Crossing the river frequently becomes necessary, and the further you go, the larger the boulders, pools, and rapids become. I reached the point beyond which I'd never been, and pressed on, climbing uphill through the old growth to avoid some nasty spots along the river. I reached a canyon with sixty foot walls on each side of the river, and while I could've gone further, I figured I'd better get back to camp before dark. My turn-around point was 0.3 miles below Valkyrie Creek.

Day Three -- Another beautiful day. I packed up my stuff and hiked the eight miles back to my truck before noon, then drove to Ruby Beach to watch the sunset.