Sept 9 - Hoh Rain Forest and Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington

  We left bright and early this morning, as the Hoh Rain Forest and Ruby Beach are on the west central side of the Olympic National Park, and we are staying on the north east side.  And it is a HUGE park.  It took us 2 1/2 hours to drive there, but it was WELL WORTH IT!  Besides, it is all on Highway 101, the scenic drive all around the park.  It was supposed to rain, most of the day, but I asked politely for it to stop while we were at both locations.  Guess what?  It did, for the most part.  Only the last 5 minutes of the hike on the trail at Hoh Rain Forest, did it actually rain.  But, then again, we WERE in a RAIN forest.
  Wow!  The Hoh Rain Forest is really neat!  We hiked the  1.5 mile trail loop through the rain forest and out to the river.  It's like being in hobbit land.  Talk about old growth forest.  The huge, tall, old trees, with stuff dripping from their branches, and lots of dead, downed trees, with new trees growing from the old ones.The feeling in the forest was magical.  And the clouds just hovered above and around the mountain tops, adding to the fogging feeling.
  We then drove over to Ruby Beach.  Wow again !!!  This was also magical, but in a different way.  Since it was all clouded over, everything on the beach looked shades of gray--the rocks, the water, the seagulls, the clouds, even the sand.  All my photos look black and white.  And the beach, at low tide, with those huge rocks standing up out of the water.  Looking at any one of the rocks is sort of like looking at the clouds and seeing lots of pictures.  The rocks all had shapes, and faces in them!  We walked along the beach, exploring the nooks and crannies in and around the rocks.  Then there was the sound of the waves, continuously crashing onto the shore or on the rocks.  We sat on one of the many beached driftwood trees, and just soaked it all up.  The scope of the beach view is hard to imagine.  Looking down from the overview, the people all look so small, against the big beach and rocks.
  What an incredible day!

Hoh Rain Forest photos:

Huge upturned tree roots

Ruby Beach photos:

Driftwood along the beach

A tree grows in Ruby Beach