According to the Olympic National Park website, the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula are some of the most spectacular examples of primeval temperate rain forest in the lower 48 states. These rain forests once stretched from southern Oregon to southeast Alaska, but little remains outside of protected areas. The region gets 150 inches of rain every year and with moderate temperatures trees grow amazingly big. And there’s not just trees. Shrubs and ferns and fungi of all types are prolific and often seen growing out of trees and dead logs. Some logs are known as ‘nurse logs’ and support an entire group of trees and other plants. We spent part of a day in the Hoh Rain Forest and were also able to explore a bit of the rain forest near Crescent Lake and along the coast.
Maple trees
Mixed conifers
It’s a long ways up there
Alders growing close to the river
Another gnarled maple
Nurse log
We walked this trail
I don’t know if these are mosses or something else?
Moss spores
And lichens on an old fence
Ferns grow everywhere!
Out of tree trunks
Way above me
And out of a small branch
This tiny mushroom was barely an inch tall
Lots of big three-leaf clovers
Skunk cabbage grows and blooms where there is standing water
A tiny blossom – possible another berry?
Sapsucker holes
Pacific Wrens serenaded us everywhere
Have you heard of Salmon in the Trees? I found this salmon jaw under a big tree. We were nearly a mile from the river.
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