Day 24 - Olympic National Park

Elevation = 573ft

Miles hiked  ~9mi

In the morning, I walk over to the Visitors Center – a basic affair (doesn’t even have the usual postcards and refrigerator magnets), and chat with the ranger about day hikes in the area. Turns out that there aren't many hikes around the Hoh Rainforest. She recommends the Hoh River Trail up to Toms Creek Falls, an out and back hike about 5.8 miles round trip. First, I do the “Hall of Mosses” loop (about 1 mile), a nice interpretive trail highlighting the various mosses and ferns found in the rainforest. 

Crossing a stream into the Hall of Mosses Loop

That's a whole lot of moss

Kind of looks like Santa Moss was here...

A lot of the signs aren’t so much interpretive as they are touchy-feely. “The rain forest affects everyone differently. How does it affect you?” and “Think of how the rainforest makes you feel.” “Like getting away from these signs”, I reply, and head up the Hoh River Trail. Here, the signs are stern warnings about approaching elk (don’t do it, they can be quite nasty especially when guarding their young) and warnings about recent bear activity.

So this is kind of cool... when a tree falls down, it becomes a founder log, and new seedlings sprout right out of the trunk. Eventually their roots reach the ground, and they grow incredibly fast...

Eventually the founder log rots away, leaving a huge tunnel beneath the tree... sometimes large enough to drive a car through.

 The trail follows up the Hoh River through lush rainforest, with occasional views of Mount Olympus in the distance. It’s all very green and quiet. In fact, I don’t see anyone else. 

The Hoh River along the trail

Mount Olympus

I mentally review my plan if I should meet any large (larger than me) animals. 1) Mountain Lion – squirt with water gun and yell “Bad Kitty!” 2) Black Bear – assume it is a friendly bear and give it a great big hug. 3) Elk – kill and eat (tasty, tasty elk).

I’m still greatly amused with my own hilarity when I crest a small hill and see this…

Yep, that's a bear track. A very fresh bear track.

The plan doesn’t seem so funny anymore. I slip my knife from my backpack into my front pocket (seriously, I doubt that a 3” knife is going to stop a bear, but it makes me feel better) and continue on, alert for the sound of a large animal crashing through the bushes towards me. About ¼ mile below the falls, I almost run smack into a herd of elk standing in the middle of the trail. There are 6 of them – 4 adults and 2 young. 

Kind of grainy, as I was rapidly backing up.

They are not pleased (I receive the snort and stamping feet warning), and I back down the trail to a respectful distance. They aren’t in a hurry to go anywhere. I sit for 30 minutes, eat my lunch and watch them, expecting at any moment to be forcibly parted from one (or several) of my limbs by a hungry bear. The elk are still standing on the trail. I stamp my feet and start making noise, hoping to at least get them to move enough to get by. No luck (and I get a bunch of foot stamping and snorting in return). Well, I didn’t want to see the stupid falls anyway, and return to the Visitor’s Center.

As an alternative, I drive to Rialto Beach, near the town of La Push (Twilight fans might recognize this). As you pass onto the Quileute Indian Reservation, there is a huge sign….

OK, seriously?

Rialto Beach is lovely – crashing waves, carpeted with smooth pebbles. Huge pieces of driftwood (by huge I mean entire 200 ft trees) are tossed about like matchsticks. I hike 2 miles along the beach up to Ellen Creek (and stretch out on the sun-warmed pebbles for a nap), then return on the trail that runs all the way up to the northern-most point on the Olympic Peninsula. 

Rialto Beach

Not so much drift WOOD as drift TREES.

Feeling better (and less like a walking lunch hamper for hungry bears), I return to the park via Forks. Twilight fans may recognize this town as well. But I will save this story for tomorrow…