Hall of Mosses Trail: Olympic’s Shortest Walk With the Biggest Impression
Under a mile long, and yet almost everyone who’s hiked it brings up the Hall of Mosses Trail before mentioning anything else they saw in Olympic National Park. There’s something about walking beneath maple trees draped floor to canopy in club moss that sticks with people longer than hikes ten times the distance.
- Distance: 0.8–1.1 miles (sources vary slightly), one-way loop
- Elevation Gain: Minimal, around 80 feet
- Time Needed: 30 to 60 minutes
- Location: Behind the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, Olympic National Park
- Dogs: Not permitted on this or any Hoh Rainforest trail
Getting There
The drive itself is part of the commitment here. From Port Angeles, head west on Highway 101 for roughly 68 miles, then turn onto Upper Hoh Road, which becomes Hoh Valley Road, continuing to its end at the visitor center. From Olympia, plan on about two and a half hours. There’s no shortcut route to the Hall of Mosses Trail; the Hoh Valley sits far enough into the park’s interior that every approach involves a genuine drive through the Olympic Peninsula’s forested backroads.
What You’re Actually Walking Through
Start behind the visitor center and follow the trail to the right, where a small pond often reflects the surrounding trees before the path begins climbing gently. At the top of a short rise, the trail splits into its one-way loop, and from here you’re committed to walking in a single direction, following the arrows the entire way. The signature stretch comes when the path runs beneath a natural archway of moss-covered branches, a spot so photographed it’s become the unofficial symbol of the entire Hoh Rainforest. Big-leaf maples throughout the loop carry so much club moss that their actual bark disappears under it, and the effect only gets more dramatic after rain, when everything takes on a deeper, saturated green.
| What You’ll Pass | Where in the Loop |
|---|---|
| Small reflective pond | Near the start, behind the visitor center |
| Gentle climb through conifers | First few hundred yards |
| Moss archway (the signature photo spot) | Roughly the midpoint |
| Dense maple grove | Second half of the loop |
| Return to the visitor center | Final stretch, downhill |
Why This Small Loop Gets So Much Attention
The Hoh Rainforest sits within a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Hall of Mosses Trail happens to showcase the most visually striking example of what makes this ecosystem unique. Annual rainfall here runs well over 100 inches, creating the exact conditions that let club moss blanket entire tree trunks and branches rather than growing in the isolated patches you’d see in a drier forest. Very few places in the continental United States let you experience old-growth temperate rainforest this immersively in under an hour, which is really the entire appeal of the Hall of Mosses Trail packed into such a short distance.
Timing Your Visit to Avoid the Crowd
This is genuinely the trickiest part of visiting the Hall of Mosses Trail, not the walk itself. Parking at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center fills fast, and on busy summer days, cars have reportedly waited up to two hours just to get through the entrance gate once the lot is full. Arriving by 8:30 a.m. or after mid-afternoon dramatically improves your odds of a smooth visit, and the light through the canopy tends to look better at those hours anyway.
| Arrival Time | What to Expect |
|---|---|
| Before 9 a.m. | Best chance at easy parking, softer light |
| Midday (11 a.m.–3 p.m.) | Heaviest crowds, longest entrance waits in summer |
| Late afternoon | Crowds thinning, good light returning |
When to Go for the Right Mood
Unlike alpine trails elsewhere in Washington that shut down for winter, low elevation keeps the Hall of Mosses Trail accessible nearly year-round, though the visitor center itself closes entirely in January and February and runs limited weekend hours through spring and fall. Visiting right after rainfall is when this forest looks most like the postcard version of itself, with moss saturated to a deep green and everything glistening. Summer brings the easiest access and warmest weather, but also the biggest crowds and driest-looking moss of the year.
Getting the Best Photos
Morning fog is common in the Hoh Valley, and while it can feel like bad luck when you’re hoping for clear light, it actually makes for some of the most atmospheric shots the Hall of Mosses Trail can offer, softening the light and giving the moss an almost glowing quality. If fog isn’t in the forecast, an overcast day still beats harsh midday sun here, since direct sunlight creates blown-out highlights against the deep green moss that a flat, cloudy sky avoids entirely. A polarizing filter, if you shoot with a dedicated camera, cuts glare off wet leaves and saturates the greens noticeably more than a shot taken without one.
Accessibility Notes
The trail’s minimal elevation gain and short distance make it one of the more approachable hikes in Olympic National Park for visitors with limited mobility, strollers, or young children, though it’s worth noting the surface is natural dirt and roots rather than a paved or boardwalk path, so it isn’t fully wheelchair accessible. Benches appear at a few points along the loop for anyone who needs a rest, and the one-way direction keeps foot traffic moving smoothly even when the trail is crowded.
Pair It With the Spruce Nature Trail
Almost nobody visits the Hall of Mosses Trail without also walking the nearby Spruce Nature Trail, a flatter, slightly longer loop along Taft Creek and the Hoh River that offers a genuinely different feel: more humid, more open, and noticeably less crowded even on the busiest days. Doing both trails together typically takes under two hours total and gives a much fuller sense of what the Hoh Rainforest actually looks like beyond its single most photographed stretch.
A Couple of Practical Notes
Bring a camera with a wide lens if you have one; capturing the scale of the moss-covered canopy is hard with a standard phone camera alone. No food or gas is available anywhere near the trailhead, so fuel up and eat before making the drive in. And the America the Beautiful annual pass, at $80, pays for itself quickly if you’re planning to visit more than two or three national parks or forests this year, compared to paying Olympic’s standard entrance fee each time.
Questions People Ask Before Visiting
Most visitors finish in 30 to 60 minutes, including stops for photos. It’s an easy addition to a day that also includes the Spruce Nature Trail or a drive further into the park.
Given how remote the Hoh Valley is, this comes up a lot. Most people who’ve made the trip say yes, largely because there’s genuinely nowhere else in the continental United States quite like this particular pocket of old-growth temperate rainforest.
No. Pets aren’t allowed on any trail in the Hoh Rainforest area, including this one, largely to protect the fragile understory and reduce disturbance to wildlife.
The trail itself stays accessible, since its low elevation means no snow closures like alpine trails elsewhere in the state. The visitor center, however, closes entirely in January and February and keeps reduced hours through the rest of the off-season.
