Olympic National Park: Part Two

Hoh Rain Forest:

The second day and a half we spent at the Hoh Rain Forest…. more big trees.  It was the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act so we got in for free!  This is a great place to see the importance of conservation: driving near the Park you see vast expanses of land that have been recently clear-cut; however, inside the park, you get to see old growth timber towering above lush forest floors.  

Our camping spot at the Hoh had this huge fallen tree as a front fence.  

Hiking trails with lots of informational placards along the path.

Moss hanging above the steam and bright green moss in the stream.

We saw tons of trees with above-ground roots that you could see through, here is why.  This fallen tree is called a nurse log, when trees fall in such competitive ecosystems, new life immediately starts growing anywhere it can.  Trees will grown on the nurse log as it decomposes leaving the new trees standing on their roots.

This tree was over 200' tall, now its over 200' long.

Skipping stones

These forests are massive and pics don't really express it, hopefully this helps.