Hoh Rain Forest and Washington Coast

After a healthy start with two slices of toast from a styro foam plate we headed towards the Hoh Rain Forest, which is the most northerly permanent rain forest of the world.  On our way there we stopped at the beautiful Lake Crescent with its turquoise waters.

We also drove thru the little town of Forks, well known from the Twilight saga. We didn't come across any Werewolves, nothing more to mention about this city. The locals exploit the saga as much as they can; everything is dazzled by Twilight, you can buy even  Twilight firewood.

With precipitation of 360 - 420 mm of rain the Hoh Rain forest is extremely humid. It results in a situation where big trees like Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock are covered by mosses. Summers are dry, but only compared to the rest of the year. So we decided to walk the Hall of Mosses trail to experience this unique environment. You walk thru giant trees, some of the toppled over others, water is dripping everywhere and the air is heavy to breath. Although this was a dry day, we could only imagine how this would be on a rainy day.

After leaving this green and lush environment we headed to the coast. First we stopped for lunch in La Push, which is part of the Quileute reservation. There we were able to experience a weather phenomenon of the North West, the coastal fog. Because of the differences in temperature of the air coming from the Pacific Ocean and the warmer inland climate very often this part of the coast is covered by fog. It is almost creepy when you drive under clear blue skies and all of a sudden you hit thick fog. As much as this is something special, it doesnt help with taking pictures. Beaches are typically covered by drift wood, coming from inland with the floodings in Spring and Fall. 

We also visited Rialto beach and finally Ruby beach, which was the most impressive location of the three. After a long drive via Olympia, the capital of the State of Washington, we arrived at Seattle late night.