Tuesday morning we headed into Olympic National Park. First, we stopped at a big Sitka tree. Seeing that tree and the many other varieties made me think of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Didn't she write about living in some woods with many different kinds of trees?
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| It was big. |
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| Lots of moss |
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| Mossy, mossy me. Har har. |
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| This one reminded me of an Ent. |
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| Orange sun again. |
We had an awesome breakfast at the Lake Quinalt Lodge. Mm-mm, it was delicious. The lodge was really pretty, too.
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| Blue hydrangeas at the lodge, and all over the park. |
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| The view at breakfast. |
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| Stenciled beams |
We walked through Quinalt Rain Forest. I had only heard of the Hoh Rain Forest, but it turns out there was this other one, too. I asked the ranger what was the difference and she said, "Ours has a lake in it and theirs doesn't. That means it gets more rain and more plant varieties." We ended up going through both, but I liked the Quinalt forest better because it was much less busy. As we walked through the Lake Quinalt Rain Forest, we hardly saw anyone, and it was very quiet. One of the reasons I wanted to go to the Rain Forest was I heard this On Being podcast,
Silence and the Presence of Everything.
Besides being quiet, it was interesting to see the difference between a redwood forest and a rain forest. It felt more dense, and more green. Lots and lots of shades of green. Less dappled light, too, but that could be because of the smoke haze.
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| When trees fall, they become "nursing logs," which other trees grow from. |
There were some plants that weren't trees but they had leaves shaped like enormous maple leaves.
Ferns, ferns, and more ferns.
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| Sometimes when the sun got through, parts of the trees looked like shiny copper. |
The beach was nearby.
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| Panoramic of a river. |
There were quite a few "fungus among us."
I took some pictures of moss covered plants, trees, or branches that looked like creatures to me. Sometimes you could practically see eyes, nose, and mouth. Arms, too. On sides of trunks they reminded me of koalas, or sloths, or animals like that. Others looked like teddy bears or ewoks, or just some unknown strange creatures.
This log went on and on.
Transparent water, with a bright green plant floor.
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| Me, in green. |
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| The leaves look like they're floating. |
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| Randy pointing to the height of the average rainfall. |
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| Some random old buildings in the park. |
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| Lake Crescent |
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| Lake Crescent Lodge, where we had lunch |
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| Cute cabins by Lake Crescent. |
We headed out this morning to have breakfast at the Lake Crescent Lodge but we didn't make it in time -- lunch instead. There apparently was a rock slide at the entrance near Lake Crescent, and a few times now we've had to wait around a half hour to get through.
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| Where the rock slide is. |
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| Waiting in line by the rock slide. |
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| A tunnel under Highway 101. |
A path to Marymere Falls. Easy and level until the steps at the end. Shades of Lothlorien. I am woefully out of shape and sent my delegate, Randy, to get closer photos of the falls.
Before starting back to the cabin, we stopped at a place where they had torn down a dam to bring back the salmon and the river's natural advantages.
