August 3, 2011

August 3, 2011

Visited the Queets River area to hike through the rain forest on the Sams Loop Trail. The NP book had mentioned that the Queets areas is a lot less crowded than the more popular Hoh River area. Our drive down the long, narrow, curvy, dirt road to get to this closed ranger station led us to understand why not many people venture out in to this part of the park. We did really enjoy this hike partially along the river and through the rain forest on this beautiful sunny day. The ground was carpeted with mosses, tall ferns, and many moss laden trees. The fallen logs are very interesting with the thick layer of moss, ferns, and seedlings beginning the next generation of growth on the “nurse logs.” Saw many Roosevelt Elk tracks and poo, but not much “wild”life except for the giant slugs – they are pretty wild. Really enjoyed the huge Foxgloves along the roadside- some eight feet tall. We ate a yummy lunch prepared on the hood of the car.

Ellis was especially excited to arrive at the beach this afternoon. We walked up the beach and were really impressed with the display of huge logs – driftwood along the coast. Ellis recommends that people visit at both high and low tide so that they may experience both events. At high tide the beach is very small and neat and limits your space of walking around. You must be careful not to become trapped by the tide at this time. Low tide exposes more beach and sea creatures such as sea urchins, sea stars, dead crabs, and barnacle covered rocks.

We really like the Kalaloch Lodge. We are staying in a cozy little cabin that overlooks the ocean. Bill has a fire going in the wood stove and the windows are cracked open so we can still hear the crashing waves. The weather has been fabulous- mostly sunny, little windy, and short intervals of fog- rare weather for the coast we know. We played cards tonight and took a break to take in the beautiful sunset. We really like it here.