Gallery: on the Hall of Mosses trail
The Hoh rainforest is an ancient, almost enchanted place, green and mysterious. Some of its trees have stood here for over a thousand years, long before European explorers came to this continent. Draped with mosses and ferns they seem to stand outside time; a haven of stillness in an ever-shifting world.
The Pacific coast of America was once dominated by temperate rainforest. It stretched from south-eastern Alaska to the central coast of California but today few tracts remain. One of the most pristine of these is the Hoh in the Olympic National Park (Washington State).
It has an average annual rainfall of 140 inches (3.55 metres) and while much of this falls in the winter, even in summer dry days are rare. But we lucked out; we had a rare dry day for our visit, even seeing the sun towards the end of our time here.
Hall of Mosses trail
With limited time we opted for the most popular of several trails, the Hall of Mosses. Having arrived early we had the first part of this to ourselves; only towards the end of the walk did some people catch and overtake us, probably because we had stopped to take a ridiculous number of photos!
But in any case this walk is worth doing slowly to absorb the special atmosphere exuded by these majestic ancient trees. Every possible shade of green seems to be on display here, from khaki mosses to lime-green young maple leaves.
At the start of the path we crossed a pool in Taft Creek, before making a short climb among the tall Douglas fir trees and spruces.
Taft Creek 
By Taft Creek
After that climb, the trail was easy going. Information boards along the way described the main features of the rainforest, such as the nursery logs. These fallen trunks provide the nutrients for new trees to grow, resulting in ‘colonnades’ of trees perfectly aligned with each other. But while it was interesting to learn about what we were seeing, it is the greenness and mysteriousness that I will remember long after any facts may be forgotten.
Perhaps the most beautiful spot of all was the grove of big leaf maples, reached down a short spur off the main path. Standing here felt not dissimilar to standing in a great cathedral or mosque, surrounded by columns reaching high into the ‘roof’ overhead. And it engendered a similar sense of awe.
Here ‘now’ and ‘then’ are much the same; this year that has seemed so long to us will be little more than a moment for these ancient trees.
[For this week’s Lens-Artist Challenge Amy suggested that we consider how this year has been different from previous ones in so many ways, giving our perspective on now vs then. I thought it might be interesting instead to focus on a place where the two are not so very different. I hope it will help us remember that when this pandemic has passed, the world will still be out there, waiting to be discovered…]
I visited Washington State in 2017
17 Comments
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margaret21
This is a fabulous post, and reminds me of the time we were in British Columbia – oh, 20 years ago now. Those ancient forests simply captivated me. So very different from our British woodland.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Margaret 🙂 Yes, there’s something majestic and captivating about those ancient forests. Some of our woodlands are ancient too, of course, but maybe that moist Pacific air combined with the sheer size of some of the trees on that west coast create a unique atmosphere
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JohnRH
Beautiful greens. Well done.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks John 🙂
rosalieann37
I’ve always wanted to visit this rainforest and never had a chance. But I have done a lot of revisits so I have photos showing how Then differs from Now. (Although my Now photos are not 2020 Now – the most recent are 2019 Now)
Sarah Wilkie
The rainforest was high on my list of must-sees when we went to WA and it didn’t disappoint!
Leya
Thank you for a marvelous tour among the old trees and mosses! I know the cathedral feeling – just standing still and breathing everything in. This is a place I would love to hike. Wonderful photos.
Sarah Wilkie
I’m so glad you enjoyed the walk Leya, and thank you for the kind comment about my photos 🙂
Leya
You are so welcome
Tina Schell
Oh so well said Sarah “when the pandemic has passed the world will still be out there waiting to be discovered.” I loved your post this week. The images are glorious and you are so right, we will all better-appreciate the wonder of discovery that much more.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you so much Tina – I’me really pleased my post resonated with you 🙂
Amy
What majestic ancient trees! Great photo captures!
I love your take on and enjoy reading the background information. Thank you so much, Sarah for this fascinating walk.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy, I’m glad you enjoyed the virtual walk and the sight of these magnificent trees 🙂
mtncorg
We spent part of our weekend busting through Coastal rainforests on partial game tracks in search of elusive mushrooms. Walk 300 meters and you pass 30 different species at least. Maybe the same number of downed log entanglements you get to help your corgi over – and wife – too. It is a jungle out there 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
I never thought to look for mushrooms and I didn’t photograph any – maybe it was too early in the year (about a week into July, just a couple of days before we headed to Paradise 😀 )