The hike from the visitor's center begins ordinarily enough, weaving you through the bustling crowd of excitable children and hurried adults. An old, familiar energy stirs inside you as you reach the trailhead - the anticipation of the last several months finally about to subside to the joys of exploring a new place. You feel ready to witness the immeasurable beauty of nature yet you can never truly be prepared for what lies ahead.
As you progress along the trail, the remarkable characteristics of the rain forest slowly unfold. You encounter a giant western hemlock here and a towering Douglas fir there like loose gems scattered about. You try to get your bearings, pausing at great length before the impressive trees and soaking up even the most minute details. It is your attempt to become acquainted with the distinct ecology of the region, succumbing to the innate human impulse to deeply understand your surroundings. To make yourself at home. But as you hike deeper into the forest, the Hoh comes alive like an orchestra rising to crescendo and you become lost. Utterly and entirely lost in the music of the forest.
Endless layers of lush moss, lichen, and ferns blanket every surface in sight, hanging from branches, clinging to fallen logs, and covering the forest floor. As you wander beneath magnificent old-growth hemlocks, western red cedars, and giant Sitka spruce, your gaze dances across the mosaic of greenness - rich emerald, deep juniper, and bold chartreuse painted across the landscape. The beauty of this place is so great, it is disorienting. But you are reassured by one irrefutable fact - where you become lost in the beauty of the natural world is where you truly find yourself.
The Hoh Rain Forest is a temperate rain forest located in Olympic National Park.
One of the most alluring regions of the impressive 835,000 acre park, the Hoh Rain Forest offers visitors a natural world that is unique to the area. In fact, the Hoh is considered one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rain forest in all of America. The Olympic Range forms an immense vertical barrier which stops precipitation coming off the ocean, dropping an impressive 12 to 14 feet of rain on the forest each year. This precipitous environment forms incredibly rich soil, promoting magnificent growth and diversity in the flora of the region.
“The temperate rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula support more biomass per acre of land than any other ecosystem on the planet.” - National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks.
The dense undergrowth of the Hoh Rain Forest is comprised of lush layers of ferns, moss, and lichen. Licorice fern, Sword fern, Lady fern, and hundreds of species of mosses and lichens give the forest its fairytale-like appearance. A few of these epiphytes, or plants which grow on tree trunks and branches, include stair-step moss, Oregon spikemoss, and icicle moss.
Among the ferns and mosses lies one of the great life sources of the rain forest - nurse logs. Nurse logs are fallen trees that serve as a nursery bed for new growth. Gazing down one of these giants, you’ll find the tiniest trees in the forest taking in nutrients from the decaying log.
Though the Hoh's understory is full of its own magic, its greatest marvels are only realized when your gaze reaches the canopy. As your eyes follow the straight trunks upward, the abundant nourishment of this pristine environment becomes increasingly more evident. The Hoh is home to 500+ year old trees, which reach heights greater than 300 feet and measure over 30 feet in circumference. Here, timber grows faster than anywhere else in the world.
The Hoh Rain Forest provides habitat for a variety of birds, including Winter Wrens, Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Pygmy-Owls, and endangered Northern Spotted Owls. Other fauna inhabiting the rain forest include roughskin newts, Townsend’s chipmunks, and banana slugs. The Pacific banana slug can grow up to nine inches long, which makes it the second largest species of land slug in the world.
The diversity of the Hoh Rain Forest may be in part due to its low levels of human-created noise pollution. In fact, according to research by emmy-winning acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, it is home to the quietest spot in the United States. The whirring of tires flying over pavement, the humming of electronics ceaselessly running, and the chattering of strangers all falls away to the tumbling waters of the Hoh River, the distant trickle of a small waterfall, and the sounds of the creatures of the forest.
Among the sounds of the Hoh is the distant bugling call of Roosevelt Elk, a unique species of elk found primarily in the Hoh valleys. In 1912, three years after Olympic National Park was first designated a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt, the population had dwindled to fewer than 150 animals. Roosevelt’s primary goal was to protect the elk, and fortunately, his work was a great success - restrictions on hunting enabled the animals to thrive in their environment. Today, the herd living in the Hoh Rain Forest is the largest unmanaged herd in the Pacific Northwest.
After a moment of absorbing the sounds of the Hoh Rain Forest, you open your eyes and hike on, finding a spur trail to the enormous bigleaf maples draped in Oregon spikemoss. The remarkable trees tower over you like the pillars of an architectural masterpiece and for a moment, the world stands still. Here at the far end of the trail you've discovered the rare opportunity to be filled with wonder and peace. And you are certain that you will carry this moment with you for the rest of your life. You are something altogether new. You are enchanted.
Sustainable Gear Highlight
Okay, guys. I'm really excited about this highlight because it covers my very favorite pair of hiking pants. Hands down, they're the best I've ever owned. The Weekendr Tight from Kuhl is a lightweight hiking pant that is tough enough for your wildest adventures, but still offers the fit and comfort of an everyday pant. Viewing the photos of them online, I was afraid they wouldn't stand up to the elements, but they're made from a high abrasion-resistant fabric and I've tested them in enough off-trail woods experiences to vouch for their durability. I actually plan to wear them over a warm base layer for my upcoming 3 hour winter adventure race, the Rib Mountain Adventure Race: Winter Edition, because of their flexibility. The last thing that I love about these pants is that they actually make me feel good. I know, I know. We're not supposed to worry about what we look like in the mountains. But we all fall victim to it every now and then and these pants won't let you down when it comes to making you feel your best. Check them out and see what you think!
Kuhl is a brand that works hard to create a durable product that you won't need to replace any time soon - which is great for you but most importantly, awesome for the environment. They're a privately held company that chooses to remain so in order to work within their line of ethics. Their goal is to source responsibly, provide a high quality of living for anyone involved, and make awesome products - all while maintaining the lowest level of environmental impact possible. I'm proud to use their gear and recommend it on to you.
References and Further Reading:
Anderson, J., & Anderson, N. (2017). 59 illustrated national parks: Celebrating 100 years of wilderness and wonder. Nashville, TN: Anderson Design Group.
Banana slug. (2020, June 16). Retrieved January 05, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/b/banana-slug/
Geographic, N. (2013). National Geographic Secrets of the National Parks: The Experts' Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail. Washington, USA: National Geographic Society.
Hoh Rain Forest-One Square Inch of Silence. (2019, August 26). Retrieved January 05, 2021, from https://olympicpeninsula.org/hoh-rain-forest-one-square-inch-of-silence/
“Olympic National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/olym/index.htm.
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