Quinault Rain forest

Rainforests are so intriguing.  All the monkeys flying through the thick canopy.  The millions of exotic insects living in the dark underbrush.  So obviously, I wanted to visit a rainforest in Washington.  Right,  temperate rainforests are not tropical rainforests.

The west side of the Olympic mountains is home to two rain forests that get over twelve feet of rain a year - the Hoh rainforest to the north and the Quinault rain forest to the south.  We took a Sunday hike around part of the Quinault rainforest.

We started at the National Forest Ranger station on the east shore of Lake Quinault.  From there, we crossed the road and began the Quinault Loop Trail, a moderate three mile trail.  The forest looked much like any other Northwest forest except maybe a little more lush with moss.

It seemed we were hiking through a previously forested area, which is typical on National Forest land, since there wasn't a lot of diversity in trees.

Eventually, the trail got to denser forests.  Again, the transcendental nature of the forests here astonishes me.  You just don't find such untouched land back east.  Here is our depiction of a transcendental painting:

When we met back up with the road, we were a little less than a mile from the Ranger Station.  Here was a well-maintained nature trail with signs pointing out the features of the rainforest.  The most interesting aspect are the nursing trees - trees that fall down then have other trees grow on top of them.  As the original tree rots, the other trees grow their roots around the rotting trunk.  There was one example there where the trees growing on top of the nursing tree were already at least twenty years old.  It is a magnificent example of nature's recycling.

The trail crossed the road back to the shores of Lake Quinault.  We walked along the lakeshore partly through a National Park campground and partly through Quinault Indian land.  The lake was choppy water but pleasant.  Across the lake, some of the smaller peaks in the Olympic range rose above the water.  Just before we reached the ranger station, we arrived at the Lake Quinault Lodge, a classic early twentieth century lodge, where we had a nice lunch.  The Monte Cristo was delicious after a couple hours of hiking.  FDR even ate there in 1937!

The absolute best part of the day was seeing the world's largest Sitka Spruce.  This area of Washington is actually home to six conifers that are the largest known specimens of their species.  The Sitka is 191 feet tall and has a circumference of 58'11".  It is about 1,000 year old!  It was by far the largest tree I ever saw and a great end to a great day.

                      

Wallace Falls

You know you have adapted to the Northwest when despite a 100% chance of rain, you are going hiking.  Off we went a few weekends ago to Wallace Park State Park.

While the park was in the Cascade Foothills, a couple hours north east of Tacoma, it was worth the drive since it is one of the first places we have found to hike in Washington where a day hike can actually get you to a sight.  And what a beautiful sight.

The trail is 2.75 miles each way.  It starts rising gradually along the Wallace River.

After a short time, the terrain begins to climb farther above the river.  Soon, we arrived at the lower falls and a nice picnic shelter, very useful on such a rainy day.  The lower falls are easy to miss because the view point is tucked down the hill behind the picnic shelter.  The best view of the falls is at the lower falls since the span from lower to middle falls can all be taken in with one view.

After another mile of steeper trail, we got to the most spectacular of the falls, the middle falls.  The middle falls are a 265 foot drop and provide all the mist and noise you would expect from a waterfall.

A short distance later brought us to the top of the trail and the upper falls.  The upper falls were definitely more of a gradual cascade.  At that point in the trail, we had reached the edge of the in-bounds state park land and turned for the downhill hike back to the parking lot.  By the end of the day, our whole party was soaked to the bone except the one person who had smartly wore rain pants.  Luckily, we didn't have to drive too far outside the park entrance to find a coffee stand.  Typical Northwest - lots of rain and plenty of options for a hot beverage.

  

Olympic National Park

With the unusually warm and dry spring weather last weekend, we took a hike on the North Fork Skokomish Trail in the Olympic National Park.  The full trail is about 12 miles beginning at the Staircase Ranger Station and ending around the base of Mt. Steel.  We did a little less than half the trail.    This area being all ancient forest made the hike like being in a Transcendental painting.

The trail began winding along the staircase rapids of the Skokomish river.

After about an hour of hiking, we began to climb above the river.  Slowly, the unmelted snow of winter began to appear.  First, there were just small piles of snow on the edges of the trail and in the shade.  Soon after, we were walking through snow pretty consistently, but it was low enough to hardly get boots wet.  Eventually, we were in consistent snow of about one foot.  Luckily, the more prepared of us (not me) had remembered to bring our gators.  More prepared for snow, we set off for about 2 or 3 more miles trudging through the snow and dealing with large trees blocking the narrow trail.

We passed over many streams leading down to the river.  Most of them were small enough to wade through on rocks.  One in particular was running quite deeply in a small gorge.  The trail continued over across on a log bridge, which was essentially just a fallen tree that had been flattened on the top and a handrail added.  This was by far the scariest part of the hike.

By midday, we reached Donohue Creek where we stopped for lunch.  Unlike hiking in the east, where it is easy to get to a summit - or multiple summits - in one day - hiking in the Olympic National Park is a more remote and lengthy experience.  To truly reach any kind of height, multi-day trips are necessary.  However, even a day hike where the farthest destination is just a creek can be an amazing experience.  Sitting next to Donohue Creek with such a mix of ancient trees above me was like being in one of those Transcendental paintings where two small people are sitting at the edge of a cliff in a vast and lush green landscape.  It made me feel small and at peace.