5/23/2009 We Visit a Rain Forest, A REAL Rain Forest!

After our usual morning rituals, checking email, reading blogs, catching up on forums we follow it was time to hit the road and explore the area. I packed us a picnic lunch and off we went.

Everyone we talked to said that we must visit the rain forest before we leave. Rain forest? There's a rain forest here? Aren't rain forests in the tropics? That's what I always associated a rain forest with. Actually, I learned today that there are more temperate rain forests in the northern and southern latitudes than tropical rain forests. I also found out that temperate rain forests only exist on the northwest coast of North America, New Zealand, Chile and southern Australia. There are some small patches of rain forests Japan, Britain and Norway too. I'm just a fountain of information you'll never use....aren't I?

We drove about a half hour or so found ourselves smack dab in the middle of rain forest. The Quinault Rain Forest to be exact.

The Quinault Valley receives an average of 12 feet, 12 FEET, of rain per year, nourishing a totally incredible and complex temperate rain forest eco-system. Lucky for us, most of the rain falls in the winter months. I would think that would mean rain nearly every day, dreary, cloudy days, rain falling, oh no, I couldn't live here. Just in case you are wondering, the wettest year on record, the one with the most rainfall was 1999 when 182.48 inches of rain fell. I'll save you from doing the math, that's OVER 15 feet of rain. Can you say.....soggy?

We started the 32 mile trek around the Quinault Lake. The first mile or so was this. A land of tall trees!

Our first stop was to check out a one thousand year old Sitka Spruce. This is one of Quinault Valley's Champion Trees. We parked the truck and started the short hike to see this giant. The trail was flat, dry and joy to walk. Lush vegetation on both sides of the trail kept our attention looking at all the different plants, bushes and trees. Soon we came to a footbridge over a small stream.

When we walked just a few more steps we both literally gasped. Even though we have just come through the land of the redwoods the size of this tree did not escape us. Once again it is just too large to get into a picture. I would have to stand a pretty good distance away to get it all in my viewfinder. Unfortunately, because of the other trees in the area getting a picture of the whole tree just wasn't possible. However, I did get some.

This spruce tree is 191 feet tall and is just one inch shy of being 59 feet around.

There's just nothing a giant tree to make you feel so darn insignificant!

As you can imagine, this being a rain forest and all, fern plants are in abundance!

And it being spring with lots of new growth....this fern just unfurling it leaves caught my eye.

There were pull offs all along the road to pull over and take in the scenery. This is one of the creeks off the main lake.

A short distance later we heard that familiar tummy rumbling and we knew it was time to start looking for a picnic spot. This was our view on one side while we enjoyed our lunch.

This is what we looked at on the other side.

Sure beats the parking lot of a fast food joint doesn't it?

We passed waterfalls all along the way.

There are quite a few residents around this lake,,,beats me WHY...but there are. (I'm sure they are quite happy here but I couldn't deal with all that rain, too many cloudy days for me) We liked this family's mail box post.

I liked the way the sun played on the leaves of these trees.

Being a rainforest, the tree trunks and tree limbs are clothed in moss.

Nothing is dead for long in this rain forest. Here is an old stump of a tree, maybe felled by lightning many years ago. Today two trees grow from it. Maybe a squirrel or a bird "left behind" seeds and they "took". I wish this picture showed it better that they are growing from the top of the stump which slopes down a bit in the back.

There's no longer any fence but the gate still stands.

I imagine much like barnacles attach themselves to a sunken ship these ferns cling to and claim what's left of the tree that once was.

Bob climbs up on the root end of a fallen tree. We're thinking this was brought down from the mountains when the streams were really raging during the winter thaw.

The snow covered Olympic Mountains.

We paused to watch the water rushing over the moss covered rocks in this small fall.

Just fifty feet down the road we found yet another small waterfall.

We were so taken in with the scenery.

We soon found ourselves on a single lane dirt road. Washboardy in places but for the most part it was pretty easy driving and the scenery was nice. (Mr. Red Squiggly Line from the dictionary doesn't like that word washboardy.)

Yet another picture of snow covered mountains, blue skies and the stream.

I found this little splash of color in this sea of green leaves and green moss and couldn't pass up the chance for a picture.

Which of course lent itself to a CLOSE UP picture.

New growth in spring time.

We had to cross this one lane bridge to get over the stream. Take note of the long pants and sweatshirt. This is NOT the typical Memorial Day Weekend clothing I'm used to! I should be in shorts and a T!

I took a picture of the stream below, the water is crystal clear and probably two feet deep. You can see the colors of the rocks, their edges smoothed by years of rushing water.

Even mail boxes are not immune to taking on moss.

We saw this intricate wood carving down the street.

OK, so we FINALLY got off that dirt road and we're at the place where we can see another giant tree. We had to walk a short .2 miles to it. Since I even bothered to type that last sentence to begin with, many of you should saying to yourselves.... UH-OH.

Well UH-OH is right! I'm going to type EXACTLY, WORD FOR WORD what the brochure says:

Travel .2 mile on the Quinault Big Cedar Trail to one of the worlds' largest Western Red Cedars. This trail is a lot of fun for kids (of all ages) because it is short and has many stairs and boardwalks on the way to the destination. This forest is awesome.

Let me tell you who I think wrote that. I think the jerk person who wrote this is probably a real idiot world class athlete! Let me explain. Two tenths of a mile. An incredibly short distance. IF you are on flat land. Nowhere in the brochure did it say the entire two tenths of a mile was a STEEP UPHILL CLIMB! (I'll kill him for taking this picture)

Here I am gasping for air standing next to the tree root like you really care so you can see how big it is.

Nowhere did the brochure give a picture of the pathway. This is uphill by the way.

Steps...you wanna see the steps? My knees were screaming STOP, PLEASE STOP and my bladder was yelling, potty break Snook, potty break NOW! Why is that once you hit 50 and you climb stairs you automatically have to go to the bathroom? Why is that???? These are STEEP steps!

Here is where I have to admit the boardwalk was a nice touch, not boardwalks like the brochure claimed. One, Singular, Uno!

So we finally get there. Nowhere in the brochure does it say it is a DEAD TREE! A. Dead. Hollow. Tree.

I went inside the tree! INSIDE! I took a picture. You can see daylight out of the top of the tree. Why is that? Because ITS A DEAD TREE! Its a darn good thing they didn't charge admission to see this DEAD TREE world's largest Western Red Cedar. I'd be demanding my money back!

I would like to have a one on one talk with the sadistic bas.... charming person who wrote the brochure. Oh yeah, I would really, really like to have a one on one.

So we hobbled back to the car...ok, I hobbled but Bob wasn't walking like the spring chicken either.

We stopped at one more place to get one more shot. A parting shot.

It wasn't until we got home and uploaded the pictures did I realize I never got a picture of the lake! I mean, its 32 miles around it, its gotta be huge and somehow I never took a picture!

What a great day! We are so glad we followed everyone's advice and went to the rain forest.