The Savage Traveler: Out West Adventure: Part 2--Hoh Rainforest

Fri. June 14: Friday we did nature in the morning and anthropology in the afternoon. The National Park’s Hoh Rainforest area was just 30 miles south and then east of the campsite. After going through their Visitor Center and getting two more Olympic passport stamps we took their two nature hikes. One was the 1¼ mile Spruce Trail through a newer forest that is constantly changing due to the Hoh River that runs along it. The other was the ¾ mile Hall of Mosses. This higher, older, more established forest had many large Big Leaf Maples whose branches were hung with heavy drapes of moss. Both had large old growth Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, and the newcomer—Cedars. Throughout the forests we were serenaded by many Winter Wrens with their lovely, trilling song. The sun was out much of the time and the temperature right around 60° so it didn't seem much like the rainforest that it is. The area gets 142 inches of rain every year. The ground is covered completely with ferns and moss and other small plants. Tree seedlings can’t compete and so they have adapted to grow on stumps or fallen logs, which result in “colonnades” of trees growing in straight rows long after the nurse tree rots away. On our return to the center we asked many questions of the knowledgeable ranger, Corrine, and left feeling like we had learned a lot. I finally found out that the yellow flowered shrub we are seeing in heavy abundance throughout northern California, Oregon, and Washington is the highly invasive Scottish Bloom. As we drove out the park road we found a spot on the Hoh River to eat our lunch listening to the clatter of glacial cobble and rushing water.

Colonnade of trees

Trees heavy with moss and lichen

More towering trees

Another lunch with a view

From Hoh we drove north and west about 60 miles to the farthest northwest point in the continental US at Cape Flattery. We stopped for a short time on the way to walk among the tidal pools at near low tide. The point is part of the Makah Indian Reservation and in the nearby town of Neah Bay there is a wonderful cultural museum, recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the 10 best Indian Cultural Museums in the US. 500 years ago five or six longhouses in the ancient town of Ozette were buried by a sudden landslide. The thick mud served as a preservative for everything encased in it until the 1970s when a big storm washed some of the mud away exposing the artifacts. Eleven years of archeology and preservation have revealed elements of everyday life on the rugged Pacific Coast before the appearance of Europeans. Those artifacts are presented in a cultural setting complete with a reconstructed lodge, cedar canoes, woven baskets and much more. It is a fascinating and very well done museum where we lingered for an hour and a half or more. Then we drove out to the Cape Flattery point but hadn't bought the pass to take the hike out to the edge so turned back to try to find Pam’s Place for pie and Indian Fry Bread. On the way Marv noticed two Bald Eagles sitting by the river so we pulled over and took pictures of them and a movie as they took flight and disappeared into the tree tops. We never did find Pam’s Place so we drove back to Forks. Along the way we saw the hindquarters and tail of a river otter as it crossed the road and disappeared into the underbrush. We bought some groceries, took showers, and did two loads of laundry at the RV Park as we ate a late dinner of leftover spaghetti and salads. It had been another long but good day.