Hoh Rainforest – Washington

The motorhome is parked at the Bogachiel State Park Campground about six miles south of Forks, Washington. We will depart later this morning..

Yesterday I drove the Bronco 25 miles to the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park. The below Google Earth image shows its location marked by an “H”. The “X” marks our camping location.

You can read all about the Hoh Rainforest which receives an average of 155 inches of rain a year by clicking this Wikipedia link…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoh_Rainforest

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

Yesterday was a 84 degree hot sunny day. The bright sun background as we walked the Trail of Mosses and a bit of The Spruce Trail and the shade and irregular moss patterns made for extremely difficult photography. Hence a lot look abstract in nature…

Here are some of the photos that I took…

TO SEE THE OTHER 60 PHOTOS THAT I TOOK…CLICK ON THE BELOW PHOTO. ONCE YOU ARRIVE AT THE PHOTO ALBUM, SIMPLY CLICK “SLIDESHOW” AND ENJOY!

Hoh Rainforest – Washington

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

With regards to my upcoming cataract surgery..my pre-op exam and consultation is set for September 29 at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, California…surgery is scheduled for October 9th.

Yesterday was a sunny day at 84 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy and 61 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Was. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

COUSIN REUNION.

From Aberdeen, Washington, Melissa and David Moore invited us to their campsite at Lake Cushman Park. My father and David’s father were brothers. We’re not sure how long its been since we met. We do know it has been over 60 years.  That black ball of fur is Toby.

Our ancestry connects us, but we found we have a lot in common, love of nature and books, and pets. For instance, we both were familiar with the small house movement. David went to see one of those 124 square foot places, but that was a bit too small. He built this neat cabin where he and his wife can get out of the rain and the confines of their small trailer and sit in a leisure chair and read, enjoy a snooze like a mini living room. A small footprint in the middle of a rainforest.

A towering alder forest behind them leads to a delightful creek.

A fallen alder stretches across the spongy duff of mosses and dead leaves. I estimated its height at 70 feet.

Two of them provide a bench at the side of the creek, David’s favorite spot.  The quiet, burbling water, cool temperature, a personal haven.

Melissa has her own favored place that looks upon her private “beach”.

Of course, this creek roars and rises and gushes through this woods in winter.

The mosses remind us of Louisiana.

They eat into every crevice.

David pointed out to us that this property was once an old growth forest. Average rain here is 100 inches and this is known as the dry side of the Olympic Penninsula. Huge stumps are a reminder of the lust for timber. The area was clear cut years and years ago. Like the Louisiana cypress, men in their folly cut every giant tree.

On this particular stump, he pointed out, you can see where the logger cut a crevice and inserted a shelf to stand on while sawing the tree down, something hard to contemplate. It was most likely a dangerous business to be a sawyer.

This forest may never be the same again, but with people like Melissa and David, in private lots and ownership, it is unlikely to fall to the axe and saws again, though it is questionable if it will ever regrow those giant trees.  (I forgot to ask what they were. Possibly redwoods.) But, mother nature, if given the chance…who knows? In the meantime, we can all enjoy the beauty and appreciate nature.

 

 

LOGAN PASS, GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Here we are at creek level, surrounded by beauty. I wanted to see the Meany Glacier because grizzly and moose sightings are common there. It is an eight-hour trip with stops for pictures.  Jim was reluctant to drive it.  We stopped for a brochure about guided tours. And while we talk to the desk person, she doesn’t say, the last bus up is at 9:00. We take it back to the car to study the various trips and times. We were 9 miles from the transit station. We missed the last bus by 15 minutes. My advice, plan ahead. The bus is the best way to go. They provide a box lunch and restroom stops for $55 a person. Kids are less.

Glacial streams are many. The green water is from glacial “dust”,  just ground up rock.

It sculpts beautiful bowls as it rushes and swirls by rock impediments. I’d love to soak in it on a hot summer day.

Our first major stop was the Cedar Loop Trail, an easy one mile walk, over creeks and ravines on board walks to minimize damage to tree roots and for access. These three trunks reminded me of the hotel supports from yesterday.

An idea of how big the trunks get.

A lightning strike has broken off a high branch that is as big in circumference as a lodge pole pine.

Though this is mainly a cedar forest, the complimentary trees that grow with it are also huge. This is a hemlock, the rough, deep bark is particularly attractive. Black cottonwood grows here as well,  with even denser, deeper bark.

In this heavily shaded old growth forest, the rocks beside this stream grow moss and lichens. In one spot, huge boulders as big as a house were completely covered with moss.

 

We met some people who were having their pictures taken in front of this upturned tree root. They offered to take ours with our cameras, so we posed.

We begin to climb and we get our first glimpse of Heavenly Peak. It has a small glacier.

As we climb, the road narrows and we have to admire the work it took to build it in the early 1900’s.

And, we admire the tenacity of the trees that grow in any little crevice of sheer rock faces.

An unusual sight where one river flows on the left and another flows on the right of this huge dome.

Looking into the sun, this is a lousy picture, but it shows the U shape at the top where the glacier moved through and gouged this valley.

A view of that same valley from the side as we make our way around it headed for Logon Pass.

The roads are narrow and harrowing if you don’t like driving on this type of terrain, but the views are spectacular.

The top of the pass is now visible. The mountain is cloud covered,  and resembles a spouting volcano.

We make it to the top, get out at the visitors center, and find out they have restrooms, but nothing to eat. Luckily we have emergency rations, a bag of peanuts and raisins in the Bronco. A pretty lite lunch, but it works. This is the point of the Continental Divide, where waters on the left of this peak flow to the Atlantic and waters to the right flow to the Pacific.

People like to hike up to the glacier. You can see them in the foreground. You might have to click on the picture and enlarge it.

Glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate and we wonder how long these small glaciers will last.

Tall poles mark the walking paths to guide the snow blowers or snow plows. The snow pack  here measures 80 feet deep at times.

Water, water everywhere, still, and it is mid September. The pass will be closed to tourists in a couple of weeks. If you have the window open, your camera could get sprayed.

Another roadside water fall. And the uneven peaks in the distance remind us that the Rockies are a young mountain compared to the Appalachians with their rounded tops.

Here we see the beginnings of Medicine Woman Falls.

It falls a distance of 492 feet and is routed under to hairpin roadways before it reaches a stream. In the spring it is a major gusher.

Going down the 6,642 feet is exciting, and beautiful.

A last look.  It is easy to see why the Native Americans could assign spiritual qualities to such beauty and majesty.

 

BEAUTIFUL WHITE STUFF

A glance out my kitchen deck revealed four inches of snow. I quickly retreated to hot tea and toast. It will melt off  by 10 a.m. I guessed.  Huh!  It snowed all day. With mail yet to sort through, I had plenty to keep me busy.

Periodically through the day, I went outside to admire the beauty of it. Wouldn’t want to fill a whole season with the stuff, but it has its glory.

It got thicker and thicker as the day wore on. Then it would melt a bit and start over.

The scene out the bedroom side of the house was irresistible. (Click to enlarge)

The contrast of snow and moss on that old tree of mine.  Not many opportunities to see that happen.

My woodpile wore the frosting. No matter.  I couldn’t use the wood anyway since my chimney needs cleaning and the chimney sweep didn’t answer my phone call.  It was a beautiful, quiet, Sunday, and as I walked inside, I dropped my new camera with the lens open and broke it.  I have a temporary back-up camera, but I’m sad about my little Canon Elph. What a sweet little camera.  I’m in the snow while Jim endured a wind storm. I know a family that moved from Southern California because too many sunny days without contrast is boring.  It’s never boring here.

A WALK IN THE WOODS.

Because the Bronco developed a transmission leak, we extended our stay in Mt. Vernon. Today, we haul it to Monroe  and settle in for Mike Coleman to perform his magic on it. I’ve enjoyed this park for its beautiful woods, great Olympic sized swimming pool and the hot tub.

Walking around the park reveals the forest’s past. Huge crumbling, rotting trunks that now sport a new tree with roots and branches twineing around them.

You soon realize as you walk from Motor Home to pool, or recycling, or just cruising the park, that everywhere you look is a transformed old stump.

We must have seen a hundred of them; remnants of a once majestic rainforest logged probably fifty or more years ago.

One day we opted for a walk through the deep woods on the property. It was quiet and peaceful. We found Lush moss on many huge alders.

Ferns four feet high and five feet wide.

Deep shade.

Light struggling through the canopy.

Downed trees.

This tree was obviously cut. The moss quickly takes over.

We seldom get to walk where you could use a machete to fight through the growth.

Out of the deep woods, we saw wild flowers seven feet tall in the undergrowth.

In an hour and forty minutes we traveled but  5 miles distance through the woods.

Jim hasn’t spent much time in this park; we know we will be returning just to enjoy this woods again.

The park also serves as a preserve. For us it was a look back in time.