Hurricanes and Rain

2023-07-12
Olympic National Park, WA

Our last day in Olympic started up on Hurricane Hill. It is so named because the wind blows strongly up there. We got there early because the parking is limited. Since the visitor's center burned down, there is also insufficient toilet capacity. Thus it's limited to a certain number of cars initially, then it is metered so that it's one car out, one car in until it reaches the port-a-pot limit they determined, and then it is closed for the day. I'm not sure if they count people or check ages; they didn't seem too. Regardless, not wanting to get caught in the latter situations, we got there before 8:00 AM.

The black tailed deer were numerous, and not particularly shy of humans.

We hiked the 1.5 mile loop to see the views.

Next we stopped by the visitor's center in Port Angeles to grab some postcards before heading out to the Hoh Rain Forest. This was another long drive of about two hours. When we got there, we found out that the parking lot was full, so we had to wait in line as they metered people in, one leaves and another enters. This took us maybe 45 minutes in line before we got up to the visitor's center and found a space.

Hoh is a "temperate rain forest." It is unlike other rain forests I have visited because it is mostly conifers, although the moss covering is familiar. It gets over 100 inches of rain per year. Luckily it's the dry season. While we encountered some rain on our way up, it stopped before we got to the trails and everything dried out quickly.

We first hiked the Hall of Mosses. This is a short trail of a mile or so through some beautiful rainforest scenery, with the promised mosses hanging from towering trees, some of them 10 or more feet in diameter. It was a tricky photography day with bright afternoon sun so we focused more on enjoying the scenery than on pictures.

We continued on the Hoh River Trail for about 4 more miles. Everything in the area drains into the Hoh River, which is also a salmon breeding ground. The spawned salmon live in the river for about a year before heading back to the sea. Most of the hike was out of sight of the river, through lush vegetation. The ferns and mosses with the pine trees made for a great walk.

After the walk we headed back to our hotel, stopping for gas and supper and such. I'm feeling tired and a sore throat so we're going to sleep in tomorrow and see how I feel.