The Upper Hoh Road ends at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, the trailhead for two easy loops: the Hall of Mosses, under a mile to a moss-draped bigleaf maple archway, and the Spruce Nature Trail, just over a mile out to the glacier-fed Hoh River past nurse logs in every stage of decay.
Road's end is just ahead, and this is where you park and walk. The Hoh Visitor Center sits right here, and two short, easy loops start from the lot. The Hall of Mosses is the famous one, less than a mile, an easy stroll up to that moss-draped archway of bigleaf maples everyone comes to see. The Spruce Nature Trail is a touch longer, just over a mile, and loops you out to the milky Hoh River past nurse logs at every stage of their long life. Either one drops you straight into the rainforest you've been driving through. So pull in, turn off the engine, and step out into it. Pictures don't do this place justice, the scale of it doesn't land until you're standing small underneath it. Take the Hall of Mosses if you only do one. The trail climbs gently to the loop, and then that green archway is right there in front of you.
Photo: Ron Clausen · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Hall of Mosses Trail is the Hoh Rain Forest's signature short walk, a roughly 0.8-mile loop that delivers the classic moss-draped scene most visitors picture when they imagine a temperate rainforest. The path winds beneath bigleaf maples whose branches hang with curtains of club moss and spike moss, glowing green when light filters through. Interpretive signs explain the forest's nurse logs, epiphytes, and the constant cycle of growth and decay that defines this ecosystem.
Beginning just behind the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, the trail gains only about 100 feet and is easy enough for families, though roots and damp surfaces call for sturdy shoes. A short spur leads to a celebrated grove of moss-laden maples. Many hikers pair it with the adjacent Spruce Nature Trail (about 1.2 miles) along the river for a fuller sense of the rainforest, from towering conifers to braided glacial channels.
- • Trail length and difficulty: about a 0.8-mile loop, easy, with roughly 100 feet of elevation gain; plan 30-60 minutes depending on how often you stop for photos.
- • Trailhead is directly behind the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center at the end of the Upper Hoh Road, about 18 miles off US-101.
- • Best light is early morning or an overcast day, when the mosses glow; the forest is green and walkable year-round but can be muddy.
- • Requires an Olympic National Park entrance pass ($30 per vehicle, 7-day); no separate trail permit is needed for the loop.
- • Pets are not allowed on the Hall of Mosses or any Hoh rainforest trail; the path has roots and uneven surfaces and is not fully wheelchair accessible.