The Hoh Rain Forest

First, thank you so much for joining me on this short trip to Washington's Olympic Peninsula.  Today's photos are of the Hoh Rain Forest. It is located on the West side of the Olympic Mountains so it gets all the rain and storms off the Pacific.  Very specific things need to be in place to create a temperate rain forest.  They are all present at the Hoh. It gets 12 feet of rain a year. In contrast, Seattle only gets about 38 inches a year. In July of 2006  a giant spruce came down . A shock was felt at the visitor's center and all the car alarms were set off in the parking lot. Many of the trees are 300 to 500 years old. I hope you enjoy seeing this rare and beautiful place.  Thank goodness it is protected by the national park.  Washington had many old growth forests until lumbering cut most of the trees. Because of forward thinking people, the Hoh will always be there for us to enjoy.

 There were trees as big as this all over the place.  The sweet SBA posed so you can judge how really big these trees are.

 This is called a nurse log.  There were 7 huge trees growing from one log.

The rain forest is populated by many species of animals.  We were lucky enough to see this beautiful deer or young elk, we're not sure which as there is a large elk heard in the forest .  We even saw a warning sign telling you  to avoid the elk as they had become aggressive due to people feeding them.

Again, thanks so much for joining me.