Hoh! Hoh! Hoh!

Hoh Rain Forest

Curt Kraft and I stomped through a section of untouched forest 15 years ago in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. Actually, we most likely were in the adjacent Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. It was hard work, as the trees had died and toppled every which way, stacking themselves 3 and 4 trunks high. The trunks were two to four feet in diameter. We picked a route, set off to follow it, hoping not to get lost. In some places we clambered over them, in other crawled under them. After we tired ourselves out, probably not going more than 1/4 mile, we turned back and returned by a slightly different route. Neither of us had ever tried to negotiate such a place before. It gave us an insight into the difficulties that the pioneers had negotiating forested areas when they tried to move west.

Maples and Spruce

Yesterday, Consuelo and I trudged through a section of the Hoh Rain Forest, part of the Olympic National Park near Forks, WA. We had no such difficulties in this forest. While there were many downed trees, the nice forest rangers had cleared a trail among them, even cutting slots in some for the trail to follow. Recalling my Minnesota experience, I realized how easy we had it.

The Hoh is one of the sections of temperate rain forest in Olympic. Because the forest is backed by the Olympic mountains, water laden clouds arriving from the Pacific Ocean are forced up and drop their rain before passing over the mountains, 140 to 167" of rain annually. There is a rain shadow behind the mountains, which get on average, 17" of rain, a mere 40 miles away.

Ferns

My vision of a rain forest was quite different from what I saw there. I think my visions were generated by movies of the Amazon Jungle, rubber trees hundreds of feet high growing in a closed canopy, blocking out the sun, and the forest floor choked with tropical plants and shrubs, making passage virtually impossible.

The Hoh rain forest is dominated by Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, which grow up to 300 feet high. Coastal Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Big Leaf Maple, and Red Alder are also prevalent. In mid October, the maples are turning, a few red, but most bright yellow. Since there has been no frost here yet, the colors are not turning uniformly. May maples are still green, while others have lost their leaves.

Clear stream with green bottom

Most of the trees are adorned with mosses and lichens. Consuelo didn't think they were as pretty as the Spanish Moss we see at Jekyll Island, but then she leans toward Spanish things. There was certainly a wide variety of them in the Hoh, along with ferns that covered the forest floor.

We also noted a stream running in the park, nearly full of bright green water plants that looked like the weeds that grew in the lake where I grew up. But unlike other places where we see lots of green vegetation in the water, the water in this stream was crystal clear.

Roosevelt Elk

We took a drive through the campground on our way out, and found several Roosevelt Elk grazing on the mown grass around the campsites, all males, all decked out with big racks. They seemed undisturbed by cars driving by them, but there were warnings on the board that several visitors had been charged by the elk recently, so we kept our distance.

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