The 'Big Cedar' sign complete with banana slug (over the arrow).
After a good night’s sleep, during which it rained a little, we were up for breakfast. The first stop of the day was an enormous cedar specimen, labeled with some understatement as “Big cedar.” After a few minutes of examination we were on our way to the Hoh Rain Forest.
The 'Big Cedar' sign complete with banana slug (over the arrow).
The big cedar itself with the walkers exploring the base.
Maribeth taking the aerial route around the trunk.
With the top broken off and it sent up an number of other trunks, looking like a fortress for forest elves.
Around the bottom of the tree, roots coming from other trees growing in the cedar above ground level.
The tree was hollow - this is a shot looking up inside. The interior was big enough to fit a dozen people.
The trailhead was at the visitors’ center and proceeded up the Hoh River Valley. The path didn’t have the ups and downs of the trail up the Quinault River, but it seemed to be warmer, more humid, and less breezes. So as a result I was getting sweaty, shedding my layers as we walked up the trail.
The trailhead was at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center on the left. We walked east on the trail for about 2.5 miles, then retraced our steps back.
For some reason, neither Jonathan or myself took as many pictures as we did the day before, probably because of the sunlight through the trees made photography difficult. Unlike the day before where we had overcast and fog with made things easier for digital cameras.
We hiked to a waterfall that came down the side of the northern ridge to empty into the milky green river below. The Hoh River carries a tremendous amount of silt giving it the milky appearance and the glacial waters impart the green color.
We walked back to an opening at the side of the river that opened on an expansive gravel bar where I had lunch with half the walkers. The other half stayed under the trees to eat theirs.
Jonathan and I hit the trail back early with Peter and Ann Gregory to get a head start. Even with that head start we were last of the trail to the vans.
The forest along the Hoh had a lot more hanging lichens and mosses than the previous walks.
A creek lined with duckweed - the bluish cast of the water coming from the glaciers.
On the path again.
The most impressive mosses were in Hoh Rain Forest.
Maribeth heading down the trail with Regan and Lynne ahead.
Vine maple foliage (Acer circinatum).
More samples of the heavy mosses.
More moss.
Jonathan pausing a moment on the trail.
More moss.
This log along the trail was about 4 to 5 ft high.
A fruiting lichen on a bed of moss on a log.
The walkers lined up viewing the river.
Banana slugs in love. These two were approaching each other with amorous intent.
More moss.
The cloudiness is produced by 'glacial flour' - finely ground silt that washes down the river from the glacier.
A shot of a bed of moss on a log.
The dominant color in the forest is green, so when complimentary colors (red, orange) pop out.
Another shot of the fractured trunk showing a color other than green.
Folks are leaving the main trail, walking up-slope along a creek to get a better view of a water fall.
The creek below the water fall.
The falls were visible through the vegetation - there was not a clear view to get an unobscured shot.
Regan and Lynne taking in the view.
Regan, Bill, and Lynne.
A sample of the mists on the sides of the ridges. it was dry season so the views were longer and trails dryer.
A view down the river.
Lunch on the gravel bar of the river.
A vine maple starting to change color.
Ray exploring the gravel bar.
Bill takes his lunch while watchng the river.
That 'glacial flour' can scour and shape the rocks and boulders along the river.
Another sample of the river sculpting the boulders along the river.
From the visitors’ center we drove back out the road to the Hard Rain Café where the rafting outfitters were set up across the parking lot. We shucked our hiking boots for the water booties and donned our raingear for the rafting trip down the Hoh for the next two hours.
We drove back down the road from the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center to the parking lot for the "Hard Rain Cafe". On one side of the parking lot, the rafting outfitters had their headquarters. We put into the Hoh river at Willoughby Creek and pulled out at Hoh Oxbow. As with Jonathan, I didn't want to risk my camera to water damage, but after pulling out, I wish I had brought it. The peaceful sections of the river have a hushed, almost sacred feel to them. If you want to feel God in nature, this would have been a good place for it. Of course during winter the river is just the opposite - raging with the huge volumes of water winter storms deposit on the slopes of the watershed. The feeling of God in nature would probably stay the same.
Our party split 5-5-5 between three rafts with Michael Reese opting for more walking and our guides running errands. It was a fairly peaceful voyage down the river with only three rapids (class 2) of note. At one point we got stuck on a rock – our river guide was a rookie – and had the river to ourselves. We saw mergansers and kingfishers. We got a bit sopping going through the last rapids where Maribeth snapped pictures of us from the shore where we beached the rafts and disembarked. We returned to Kalaloch Lodge for dinner and preparations for our departure to Crescent Lake the next day.