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Friday 1 July 2011

The Hoh Rain Forest

Olympic National Park

We started the morning on Ruby Beach in the Olympic National Park. We were too late for the best tide pools. I could pull some photos from my archives, but that would be wrong...


The first time we camped out overnight together was here on the Hoh River. It was June 6, 1968.  I stayed up all night with a stick of wood waiting for the bears while Mrs. Phred slept in a bedroll on a poncho. When we returned to Mccord Air Force Base, my honorable discharge was waiting...We drove to Miami in a fast 72 hours in our 66 Chevy convertible...We arrived just in time to see Bobby Kennedy get assassinated on TV...


Today the Spruce trail is closed because of an aggressive mama elk.


The Cascade Mountains are to our East and the Pacific Ocean is West. The Hoh River valley runs about 40 miles from the Pacific up into the mountains. The adiabatic  process creates an annual average of 144 inches of rainfall in the Hoh valley.


The moist air from the Pacific is forced up as it meets the Cascade mountains. As the air cools it can't hold as much moisture and precipitation results.


This may be the only coniferous rain forest in the world. It has been declared a world heritage site.


At the end of the valley you can see hundreds of unnamed snow-capped mountains.


Definitely one of my favorite places...sweet memories...


Mrs. Phred relaxes after lunch...we walked in about three miles today. The trail was nasty with lots of muddy places...It's rained here even more than usual...


We were here in May of 2006. I jumped into the swift and cold  Hoh river and was immediately swept away with great velocity in the glacier melt water...the clock started ticking...exhaustion  or hypothermia?? Fortunately, as a registered Dive master, I am able to overcome nearly any water adversity...Johnny Weissmuller, eat your heart out...

2 comments:

  1. looks like from the last 3 blogs you guys are having way too much fun..sil

    happy 4th....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't be messin with the mama elks......

    ReplyDelete