Vacation: Olympic National Rainforest

For her birthday, I flew my friend Lilli over to Seattle to explore the Olympic National Rainforest.  I'd seen pictures of the idyllic mosses and glaciers near the Hoh river, and I must say that it's something you have to see in person.  The forest is incredibly lush and green, but it's often hard to take a good picture because it seems like something is always in the way of your shot, and it was difficult to find wildlife because there were way too many hiding spots.  To make matters worse, I grossly underestimated how cold it got there at night, and overestimated how waterproof my tent would be.  I'll have to try to make the 18 mile hike up to the glacier meadows some other time!  The park as a whole is wonderfully maintained, and the rangers and park staff were pleasant and helpful--just make sure you come prepared for the moisture, cold nights, and permethrin-resistant mosquitoes.

A columbine flower, Aquilegia formosa

Scaphinotus angusticollis looking for a meal on a mossy trunk.

The elk were quite unafraid of people.

The trees frequently had hollow openings under them.  This effect occurs because the only sunlit real estate on the forest floor is where another tree has recently fallen!  This tree began its life growing on the trunk of a fallen predecessor, and now that progenitor has rotted away.