The glaciers grind rock into a fine glacial flour which turns the Hoh River a milky slate blue color.

This hiking trail follows the river 12 miles through the Hoh Rain Forest to the base of Mount Olympus, and then continues to climb steeply another 6 miles to Glacier Meadows campsite, and the start of the primary climbing route for Mount Olympus.

Mount Tom Creek, a tributary which joins the Hoh farther downstream, has its source in a western arm of the White Glacier as well.

Jackson Creek joins from the south at approximately river mile 37 near the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center and campground.

In the region near the national park boundary the Hoh River occupies a U-shaped valley with a flat bottom about one mile across.

About a mile below the South Fork confluence the Hoh River leaves Olympic National Park.

The Hoh makes a small northward bend, skirting the edge of, and briefly entering Olympic National Forest.

Three campgrounds are sited along the river upstream from the horseshoe bend, including Minnie Peterson, Willoughby Creek, and Hoh Oxbow.

Hoh Ox Bow Campground is located just west of the horseshoe bend near where U.S. Highway 101 crosses the river.

Cottonwood Campground, another DNR site, is on the north side of the Hoh River, accessed by Oil City Road.

Below the horseshoe bend the Hoh River begins to meander widely through a broad and flat coastal floodplain.

The former settlement of Oil City is located on the north side of the Hoh River about a half mile from its mouth.

A large headland peninsula called Hoh Head[7] is located on the Pacific coast a few miles north of the river's mouth.

At about river mile 11 it enters a broad glacially carved U-shaped valley and becomes braided.

The captives were exchanged and traded among the coastal tribes, with most ending up with the Makah in the Neah Bay area.

The thirteen surviving captives being held by the Makah were ransomed by Captain Brown, who then returned them to Sitka.

[11][12][13] In the 1850s Isaac Stevens, the first governor of Washington Territory, began negotiations with the tribes of the Olympic Peninsula with the goal of obtaining land cessions and creating Indian reservations.

Its terms included the cession of most of the western Olympic Peninsula to the U.S. federal government with a reserve to be determined later.

[11] Early pioneers wishing to settle in the Hoh River valley faced numerous challenges including the dense forest and enormous trees, regular large-scale flooding, isolation from markets, and the impracticality of navigating the Hoh River due to its swift current, floods, and frequent logjams.

Later, two-thirds of the platted city were returned to the state which now forms part of the Olympic Wilderness Park.

Abundant winter rainfall results in a lush green canopy of coniferous and deciduous trees, often covered with mosses and ferns.

[16] When Olympic National Park was created in 1938 one of its primary objectives was to protect the herds of Roosevelt elk.

[2] The Hoh River supports a variety of salmonid fish, including spring and fall chinook, coho salmon, winter and summer steelhead, and sea-run coastal cutthroat trout.

[20] The Oil City Trail, managed by Olympic National Park, begins on the north side of the mouth of the Hoh River and runs about a mile to the Pacific coast.