The Garden of Eden/From Sea to Shining Sea

2019-09-25 (Wednesday)

Today we spent a magical, enchanted few hours in the most beautiful place I have EVER been-- the Hoh Rain Forest "hike" into the Hall of Mosses.

Due to being in the campground right at our destination today, you might think we'd have gotten there maybe an hour earlier than usual, but not really. We did enjoy walking through the campground first-- it was simply so beautiful. We were only a few hundred yards away from the Hoh River, and it rushes very fast past the campground. I took some photos of it, as well as another one of our campsite (same as last night, but it was irresistible.) Finally, at 10 a.m., we pulled out of the campsite and drove for 3 minutes to the parking lot at the Visitor Center.

I had been looking forward to this walk/hike for several days, since I'd read on the internet how beautiful it was. It is only .8 of a mile long, so I thought it ought to be easily managable, and take about an hour. Well, it was easily manageable, but it took us over 2 hours. It was absolutely too gorgeous, and even before we got to the beginning of the hike, we were stopping in awe of the beautiful plants we were passing. The small stream we crossed on our way was incredible--filled with emerald-green water plants which streamed out in the water, beneath hanging mossy beards dipping almost to the water level, and even a few maple leaves on the water surface to remind us that autumn is coming. We lingered for 5-10 minutes just at that one point.

Emerald water plants with moss hanging above them

From there, we walked up an incline with about a 50-foot increase in altitude. The rest of the walk was pretty flat, although unsurprisingly, there was the usual mud, and lots of tree roots. But the sun was actually out, so we got sunshine filtering down through the 200-foot tall spruces and pine trees, which added to the mystical, mysterious quality of the forest.

I can't really keep saying "beautiful," "gorgeous," "incredible" over and over, so I'll just string a lot of my photos here. There's more blog further on, but here is what we saw. Like I said, we did not hurry--we simply could NOT. So our walk took us until almost 1pm.

I decided that the best description for me of this place was the "Jerusalem of Forests." It had the same sacred, mystical sense that I get in Jerusalem. It was a primeval magical place.... just perfect and beyond the words to describe it.

By the time we got back to the RV we were full of awe but also hungry. And it was also time to think about our next move. So after lunch, we reluctantly left the Hoh Rain Forest (there were other short hikes, and frankly, I could have spent days there.) The road out was beautiful, as it was yesterday--a little nicer because it was a trifly brighter. The river looked lovely, and the trees formed a canopy over us (there are a LOT of thick trees on the peninsula!) But we headed back toward US 101, our route around the peninsula. Before we reached the end of that winding road through the woods, though, we stopped at a store we'd noticed yesterday. Neither of us, especially Joe, has enough warm-weather clothes with us. It was so darn HOT when we left home, obviously I wasn't planning to ever see the cold again! But I'd noticed this store had long-sleeved flannel shirts hanging outside on display. So, the perfect thing--we stopped and bought two pairs of shirts, another zip-up hoodie sweatshirt, and a cool hat for Joe. I got a shirt too-- 25% off made them as inexpensive as anything I would buy at home. So I felt like I got a deal.

Hoh River

 Meanwhile outside the store, there was a friendly herd of cows grazing next to the parking lot. Joey and Cassie went to see them, and in the back of the field, Joe realized there was another herd grazing there--elk! We'd read a lot about the Roosevelt Elk herd in the Rain Forest, but hadn't seen any of them. But there some of them were! So besides the shy-looking deer I'd seen last night (while we searched for the perfect campsite, I saw him in the bushes), we saw elk today in the park. Not as close-up as at Yellowstone, but fun anyway.

From there, it was only about 40 or so minutes before we arrived at Ruby Beach, the northernmost beach along US 101 (yes, back in the park again, this time along the coast!)  We parked there and went down the path to the rocky, log-covered beach. Not much like beaches at home--but beautiful in an entirely different way. There was sand (it seemed to be pretty low tide) but we stayed on the rocky part, sitting on a whitened wooden log and just enjoying the beach experience. We left home from Oak Island, and here we were, beside the Pacific Ocean. From sea to shining sea!

Tonight we are camped at Kalaloch Campground just a few miles south of Ruby Beach, also on US 101, also in the park, also on the beach. We unfortunately arrived too late today to get a plummy beach-view campsite (those went at about noon); but we can hear the ocean from our site, and we are still in the beautiful woods. More interesting trees and roots, more ferns, more moss.... no one is complaining!

So today was so beautiful, it more than made up for yesterday. Sadly, tomorrow we will be leaving the Olympic Peninsula. We've been here almost a full week, and I'd gladly come back and stay anotheI week! I think this park has become my favorite, equally with Yosemite. There is really something special about the entire peninsula, and I really love it here. Too bad it's so far from home!