On No, Don't Let the Rain Come Down

Daily Mileage=49;Trip Total=5728
Today we went to the Hoh Rain Forest. It is one of three rain forests in the world where such forests exist; the other two are in Chile and New Zealand. A combination of temperature and precipitation make it possible for this wonderland to happen. We took two relatively easy hikes into different sections of the forest. One showed old trees (400 to 700 years old) and the other ancient trees (700 to 1500 years old)! The size of these trees is unbelievable even though you are standing right next to or under them. It’s not uncommon for the height of these trees to reach 300 or more feet! The picture here shows Rich standing next to one that has fallen in front of one that is still alive and growing. Another phenomenon is "nursing trees." When the larger one falls, small new trees begin growing on top of the older one which provides nutrients and other elements needed to survive in the forest. These new ones will grow on the old tree for hundreds of years until eventually the nursing tree disintegrates. What is left looks like a row of trees known as a "colonnade." We saw many of these at different stages of development, and again it's simply amazing.

Another usual fact seen in the rain forest is the various kinds of “moss” that forms on the trees (which include Douglas Firs, Cedars and Big Leaf Maples to name the most common). The mosses also have many variations but it’s interesting and eerie to see the mosses on the trees. We tried to get some photos showing the moss but again the scope of these trees is almost impossible to capture in a photo. They would be great Halloween props.

While we were hiking we saw two groups of Roosevelt Elk grazing on the underbrush. This was pretty exciting because we were relatively close and no one was bothering them so they just kept on eating! (Photo isn't too good but Rich insisted we use it!)We’ve seen them before but never this close and personal in the wild. (We were actually at the very bottom of the glacier which is Mt.Olympus. And if we walked about 20 miles we could actually get to the base of the mountain. We didn’t feel up to it today!)

After we left this region, we went back to the beach to explore some of the tidal pools that are accessible at low tide. They are around the huge “sea stacks” that are scattered up and down the coast. It was great! We saw barnacles, billions mussels, ochre starfish (purple and orange), limpets and urchins plus a bunch of other things. It was a delightful walk on the beach compared to what we went through yesterday and the weather was much nicer too.

As always, we managed to find some friends for Rich to play poker with. He is sitting with them at the table waiting to be dealt a hand! (He lost 3 salmon and a honeybee nest and called it quits. I say he has lost his mind telling me to enter this into the blog and, maybe I have lost mine, doing it!)

The next subject today has to do with signs we see along the way. I’ve already mentioned that they have tsunami signs everywhere. Well, I thought I would share one with you. Here are my questions. 1) Do you think this guy will make it, with the waves coming up right behind him? 2) If he looked back down, what would he be saying? Maryanne thinks he’d be saying “Holy Sugar Honey Ice Tea” (I know there are some kids reading this). Give me a break! This sign doesn’t do anything to make you feel that you could actually get away from a tsunami.

Now, here’s one that Rich took a photo of. As you can tell from our beach photos, there are many, many huge logs/trees all over these beaches. I’ve indicated before that they actually look like matchsticks from afar. So, there are warnings all over about watching out for logs in the surf. Take a look at this sign. Would you go to this beach for a day of fun in the sun??? We thought this was great but we’re not sure the tourist board should use it in their advertising!

Finally, as we leave the Pacific Ocean and begin our slow return across the USA (in our Chevrolet) we leave you with this beautiful sunset we took this evening. We had a wonderful dinner of local steamed clams, Copper River Salmon and wild mushroom strudel and then watched the sun set as we drank our local Washington State wine. It’s a good life! Love & joy, Mare & Rich
Tomorrow we head for Seattle!