The Olympic Peninsula: sunny weather in a rain forest
This morning began entirely too early. Neither "J" nor I was sleeping well; we were missing a part for her air mattress blower, and had to do without it. Bogachiel State Park, just west of Forks, had nice camping sites, but although the ground was smooth it was still cold and hard. Worst of all, my allergies were terrible, and I got a sinus headache, and disturbed her sleep too.
Continuing later from notes:
We got up early-early and and I took an extra dose of my allergy medicine. We went for breakfast at Forks Coffee Shop; it was good and very inexpensive. We went back to the camp site, still tired. By then it was warming and more comfortable, so we had no trouble getting more sleep. We woke up refreshed.
Next we packed up our camp, and headed for the Hoh rain forest. J got a long business phone call along the way, and her phone signal was getting weak so we had to stop for a while until she finished the call. While we were stopped, we wandered around what looked like a staging area for logging trucks. On the road again after the call, we saw a sign for the "big spruce" - a huge Sitka spruce tree, over 270 feet (82 meters) tall, over 12½ feet (3.8 meters) in diameter at chest height, and between 500 and 550 years old.
The Hoh Rain Forest itself was a beautiful place, with mossy old-growth trees and lots of other vegetation. We walked around through the short hiking trail, and a little way up one of the longer trails, though we turned back because we wanted to see other places too. We saw elk scat and hoof prints, lots of skunk cabbage, assorted mosses, and other wetlands vegetation. J spotted tadpoles in running water; they rather inconspicuous because they looked a lot like the algae swaying in the current, which was probably one of their disguise methods. We took lots of pictures, which are still in the camera for now - and may be trapped there for a while since SIFF takes up a lot of time we might otherwise use to sort through our pictures.
On the way out, we saw a closed cafe that J said was good; it had a funny opening hours sign, which is one of the pictures still in the camera.
We continued on to the Pacific coast, and walked around on Ruby Beach. There we saw sea stacks (columns standing up from the sea, remains of cliffs eroded away by the surf), and tidal pool life including sea anemones, mussels, and such. The last few times J had been there, it had been possible to cross a stream on a bridge formed by a fallen log, but it seems it finally washed away, making the beach north of it inaccessible without wading through water that was too deep for my boots. I climbed up one of the sea stacks, and later we walked along the beach to a cave that the surf had carved into the cliff face.
Along the road to our next stop, we saw a sign marked "Big Cedar". We pulled off the road for it - only 0.3 mile and took a look. It was huge and full of hollows and knots; we wondered whether it was old enough that it was one of the survivors of the devastating tsunami caused by the Cascadia earthquake of 1700 (which can be precisely dated to January 26 because the tsunami demolished a number of towns in Japan), or a tree that sprouted since that earthquake. It was certainly close enough to the coast to be struck by the tsunami; that one knocked down trees well inland, and there are "tsunami evacuation route" signs all along the coast.
We visited the Kalaloch camp ground and J showed me her favorite camp sites, with great views of the sea; she has reservations for us there later in the year. We stopped in to the Kalaloch Lodge, a rustic hotel near the end of a renovation (or maybe just annual maintenance). The car needed fuel, and we bought some there, even though it was rather expensive ($4.299 per gallon). J bought some post cards and I got an Olympic National Park souvenir mug.
Finally, we checked in to a hotel room back in Forks. Our room at the Olympic Suites was the largest hotel room I've every stayed in, or close to it; it had a typical hotel bathroom, a bedroom, a large living room, a kitchen larger than the one at home, two televisions, and a deck. Large as it was, it only cost $100 (we declined the $10 extra for a key to the kitchen supply closet, since we had our camping dishes). It was very cozy, and there was a nice view of the forest outside the windows. After sleeping roughly in the camp ground the night before, the bed felt really good.
Continuing later from notes:
We got up early-early and and I took an extra dose of my allergy medicine. We went for breakfast at Forks Coffee Shop; it was good and very inexpensive. We went back to the camp site, still tired. By then it was warming and more comfortable, so we had no trouble getting more sleep. We woke up refreshed.
Next we packed up our camp, and headed for the Hoh rain forest. J got a long business phone call along the way, and her phone signal was getting weak so we had to stop for a while until she finished the call. While we were stopped, we wandered around what looked like a staging area for logging trucks. On the road again after the call, we saw a sign for the "big spruce" - a huge Sitka spruce tree, over 270 feet (82 meters) tall, over 12½ feet (3.8 meters) in diameter at chest height, and between 500 and 550 years old.
The Hoh Rain Forest itself was a beautiful place, with mossy old-growth trees and lots of other vegetation. We walked around through the short hiking trail, and a little way up one of the longer trails, though we turned back because we wanted to see other places too. We saw elk scat and hoof prints, lots of skunk cabbage, assorted mosses, and other wetlands vegetation. J spotted tadpoles in running water; they rather inconspicuous because they looked a lot like the algae swaying in the current, which was probably one of their disguise methods. We took lots of pictures, which are still in the camera for now - and may be trapped there for a while since SIFF takes up a lot of time we might otherwise use to sort through our pictures.
On the way out, we saw a closed cafe that J said was good; it had a funny opening hours sign, which is one of the pictures still in the camera.
We continued on to the Pacific coast, and walked around on Ruby Beach. There we saw sea stacks (columns standing up from the sea, remains of cliffs eroded away by the surf), and tidal pool life including sea anemones, mussels, and such. The last few times J had been there, it had been possible to cross a stream on a bridge formed by a fallen log, but it seems it finally washed away, making the beach north of it inaccessible without wading through water that was too deep for my boots. I climbed up one of the sea stacks, and later we walked along the beach to a cave that the surf had carved into the cliff face.
Along the road to our next stop, we saw a sign marked "Big Cedar". We pulled off the road for it - only 0.3 mile and took a look. It was huge and full of hollows and knots; we wondered whether it was old enough that it was one of the survivors of the devastating tsunami caused by the Cascadia earthquake of 1700 (which can be precisely dated to January 26 because the tsunami demolished a number of towns in Japan), or a tree that sprouted since that earthquake. It was certainly close enough to the coast to be struck by the tsunami; that one knocked down trees well inland, and there are "tsunami evacuation route" signs all along the coast.
We visited the Kalaloch camp ground and J showed me her favorite camp sites, with great views of the sea; she has reservations for us there later in the year. We stopped in to the Kalaloch Lodge, a rustic hotel near the end of a renovation (or maybe just annual maintenance). The car needed fuel, and we bought some there, even though it was rather expensive ($4.299 per gallon). J bought some post cards and I got an Olympic National Park souvenir mug.
Finally, we checked in to a hotel room back in Forks. Our room at the Olympic Suites was the largest hotel room I've every stayed in, or close to it; it had a typical hotel bathroom, a bedroom, a large living room, a kitchen larger than the one at home, two televisions, and a deck. Large as it was, it only cost $100 (we declined the $10 extra for a key to the kitchen supply closet, since we had our camping dishes). It was very cozy, and there was a nice view of the forest outside the windows. After sleeping roughly in the camp ground the night before, the bed felt really good.