Life on the Road with June and Dave: HOH Rainforest - Olympic National Park August 11th & 12th

August 11th was a travel day from Sol Duc to HOH Rainforest, both in Olympic NP. The park is so big it took 2 hours to go from one to the other section. One other reason for the long ride is there are no roads through the park. You go back out and around. The National Parks have become so much more popular than when we went with the boys in the 2000s. We had to wait 45 minutes in line to get to the entry booth. After the parking lots are full, it’s one out, one in. We were talking to the campground host at HOH Rainforest campground and mentioned we tried to get in Rainier. She said she heard the wait to get through their entry booth is 5 hours. It’s nice to see the parks so popular, but I have to say I miss the days of easy entry.

Here’s a pic of our site at HOH. Really beautiful surroundings.

August 12th we did two Ranger activities, a ranger talk and a ranger hike. So much information about the rainforest. Enjoy the facts and pics.

Elk racks can weigh up to 40 pounds. (Oh, my aching head)

Salmon are a huge contributor to this ecosystem. They are born here and after they grow, they go to the ocean for 3-4 years and then come back to spawn and then they die. 137 different species of animals and plants use salmon as food or nutrients from their decayed bodies.

HOH Rainforest gets 137-140” of rain a year, 30” of which is through fog and mist. We are here in the dry season. They normally get about 3 inches in August. We have experienced the fog and a little mist. You see the clouds rise some in the morning and then later in the day the clouds seem to descend again.

It is a temperate rain forest with the average temperature being 50. It doesn’t generally go below 40 in the winter or higher than 60 to 65 in summer. This temperate climate also allows the trees to grow and decompose all year.

The floor of the forest is so dense, new trees and plants can not really get through to the soil. 90% of new tree growth is on what they call Nurse Logs. These are trees that have fallen, epiphytes (different types of plants that grow on the trees) grow on these downed trees and provides soil for new trees to grow without fighting to find soil. This was an interesting fact to know before we went hiking because you could see how the trees would grow around the nurse log to get to the ground eventually, but could start to grow to get the nutrients they needed. Here are some examples.

They told a story about a woman who was studying replanting after logging and how to make it better. They would clearcut the land and then put down pesticides to kill the remaining fungi, etc, figuring it would give the trees the best chance to thrive due to no competition. Through her research she found out that the mycorrhizal fungal network was key to better growth.

The moss and other growths on the trees do not hurt the trees, they provide nutrients. The only harm that comes to the trees is if the moss gets too heavy and breaks the limb. They said that the moss can be 10” thick in places. There was a study that took the moss off a tree to find out more about it. The tree died within 2 years and you could see the scar where the moss was removed.

I could go on, but that’s probably more details than are needed to enjoy the beauty of the pictures.