Hoh Rainforest

Despite hitting snooze on the alarm and not getting out of the campground at 7AM, like originally planned, we each were able to get a parking spot in the Hoh Rainforest. The five of us first took a peek in the visitors’ center before heading out for the Hall of the Mosses .8-mile loop.

The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the largest temperate rain forests in the United States, and the river valley itself was formed by glaciers thousands of years ago. The Hoh Rain Forest is both a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.

For the nerds: I learned about “nurse logs.” These dead and fallen trees supply nutrients to various forms of life, including new trees. You can see evidence of where a nurse log used to be with the buttressed roots of giant trees. I was on the lookout for this on every walk after learning about this interesting fact.

After the five of us completed the loop, John, Aspen and I got ready for a “hike” down the Hoh River Trail. It’s about 17 miles and ends at Glacier Meadows, but we only went 7.5 miles out and back to make it a 15-mile trip. It was a walk through beautiful forest with side paths that led to the teal-colored river.

Another fact for the nerds: water is teal-colored because of glacial deposits, referred to as “rock flour” or “glacial flour.”

After sharing a Backpacker meal for lunch and chilling by the water, we made the return trip back to the trail head. We met John’s parents for dinner at Pacific Pizza in Forks, WA before heading back for our final night at Mora Campground. Tomorrow we go to Sol Duc.

More posts you might like:

• Olympic National Park 3
• Rainier National Park 1
• North Cascades National Park 1
• Glacier National Park 1