Olympic National Park - Part I

2009-07-25: The Olympic rain forest was everything I had expected, and then some. The trees here, regardless of species, grow to tremendous size. Everywhere where something could grow, it did. I encountered trees growing out of other trees; in one instance a sapling was growing straight up out of a stump. Many trees had hollows underneath them where the tree they grew on top of had lain before rotting away. Mushrooms and moss grew upon the trees. Ferns and other small plants claimed any remaining open soil. The air here was slightly cool and damp - it would cool dramatically at night. The scent of the trees and the earth was very thick. Many parts of the forest were quite dark. The trail I took followed a clear and cool river. I walked quite a distance on this trail - 7.5 miles, and then back another 7.5. Unfortunately, I wore through the pads in my boots and ended up with some very painful blisters on my soles. Oddly enough, in one particular part of the forest trail, otherwise unremarkable, I had a strong feeling that I was being watched. I continued on, watching and listening for movement. Nothing came of it, but when I was on the return hike, I felt the same sensation. How strange!

Later, in the evening, the temperature dropped dramatically. I was exhausted and the cold may have been less tolerable because of that. While driving, I caught a glimpse of a cloud of fog pouring rapidly down the side of a mountain and looking like an enormous plume from a melting block of dry ice. Soon the thick fog filled the air, and was present until I had come out of the high mountains. Along some parts of the highway, the huge trees of the rain forest lined both sides of the road, creating the appearance of a gargantuan hall lined by massive pillars. At one point, a great horned owl swooped across the road in front of my car, its wingspan six feet wide, or possibly more. I stopped to capture some photos of a brilliant sunset. That night, again behind schedule, I had to find somewhere to stop and sleep. The city of Aberdeen, WA looked much like Chicago in many ways - not somewhere I wanted to stay. So as before, I found a rest stop to park at and there I slept.