Tuesday we drive into the park to do a hike along the Ho River. The Ho River hike is a 17.5 mile hike, one way, and goes to Glacier Meadows. From there you can continue another mile to the Blue Glacier and on to the climbing route for Mt Olympus. We did a 4 mile section to the Big Cedars. This is a pretty flat trail with a little up and down.
The one day we were wishing for cloudy skies and fog we get beautiful sunshine. Walking through the rain forest is very different than walking through a normal forest. The trees are very old, most of them anyway, with lots of moss hanging off of them. They are also covered with moss from top to bottom. Fog would have made it feel very eerie and fun. The sunshine gives it a different effect, very humid. Lots of mushrooms growing on the downed trees.
The first 2.7 miles is along the river or close to it. The Ho River is very swift moving and scenic to look at.
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| Notice the tree growing out of this root ball |
Pretty soon we were at a water fall. It is nice one but not as spectacular as others we have seen.
We stopped here for a short break. I looked at the side of the long I was sitting on and found these cute little salmon colored mushrooms.
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| Can you find the slug in this picture? |
As I said earlier, mushrooms are in abundance here.
We are now getting close to the big Cedars. These trees are impressive. Not only are they big but they are tall as well.
This tree appears to be on stilts, it actually grew on top of a big tree that had fallen over. As it grew and the nurse tree deteriorated it ended you looking like it is on stilts that you can walk through. There are many trees here like this.
Joe found a moss covered tree that he used as a hat, it looks like there is a monkey on his head.
Bridges to cross
Time to head back to the trail head. Almost to the visitor center we took the trail of the Mosses. This is one of the oldest parts of the Ho Rain Forest, all maple trees.
Wednesday the beaches!!!!
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