Among the Giants

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blog 09-18-17 Among the Giants

Today was Olympic Nation Park Quainault Rain Forest day. We drove north on 109 and then took some back roads to get to rt 101 north that runs into the Olympic Nation Park. We took the south shore drive and found the ranger station and talked to a National Forest person there about the forest and the tree harvesting in the area. Trees are the cash crop in the Northwest and we were told that most trees are harvested after 35 yrs of growth and the tree company usually plants Douglas Fir seedlings after the harvesting. From what we have seen the companys are very responsible about clear cutting only a small portion of forest and replanting right away. Several years later they will harvest the trees nearby so there is never a soil erosion problem.

The Ranger suggested a few walks for us and we left the station realizing we would need our rain jackets. It rained off and on on the way up to the park, now it was really coming down. We drove to the trail where the biggest Sitka Spruce was located and doned our rain jackets and headed down the trail. We wound around and through beautiful forest and finally came to a bridge where we looked up and saw the most majestic tree I could imagine. Well, there were several WOWs out of my mouth as we walked across the bridge to get closer. This beauty is truly a giant and just left me speachless. The ranger said it was spared from fire 700 yrs ago because it was close to the lake and is now over 1000 yrs old. It is just too much to comprehend that a tree could live that long and continue to grow and get bigger and thrive. Why has man so violated nature.....

Our next trail was through a rain forest and again we dressed for the occasion. The trail led up a hill and immediatly we encountered a Douglas Fir that was just huge with a platform around it. We ood and aad at the beauty and contunued up the trail to find a revine with a stream down below. The entire revine was covered with giants of varing sizes but all of them were tall and so impressive. There were Red Cedars, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce all growing beautifully and in harmony.

There was a Vine Maple that was a very small plant but with the biggest leaves. There is a picture of Ginnie with her hand on the leaf for size comparision.

The more we walked the more I said WOW and tried to capture the scene on my camera but with no luck. You just can't translate the scene to a picture. We walked on pine needles, very soft and quiet. The air smelled fresh and moist and the silence was SO peaceful, I felt like I was in the most beautiful church. Can't capture that on film....

We drove to the North Shore of the lake and were expecting to see the oldest cedar in the world but the trail was closed because the tree had fallen. How sad.

On the way out we saw a picnic area near the lake so we stopped to look at the lake but the trail led us to more giant trees that were just close to the lake and a stream and we entered another Catherdral.

The stream babbled as we walked past and then by the lake we heard loons calling and the scene was perfect. Pictures.

We were truly awe inspired by this beautiful park and thrilled we could experience it's splender.

As we drove home we missed our back road to get to RT 109 and ended up traveling about 1/2 hr longer than we needed to but after a day with the Giants, what's 1/2 hr.

The boys were thrilled to see us and we took them to the beach after looking at the radar. The entire day was off and on rain and my phone sent a tornado warning for just south of us so we wanted to be careful. There were storms to the north and south of us but we had a window so we took it. The ocean was really stirred up but at low tide so we walked a little then headed back. We had time for happy hour outside before the next round of showers so we were safely inside, warm and dry.

The temp was about 57 all day with rain sometimes so it was cool and damp.

Tomorrow we head south 2 1/2 hrs to Long Beach just north of Astoria.

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