Day 2 took us to the rain forest, old forests, and the Pacific Ocean.
The drive alone is incredible.
The Gypsy app (now called Guide Along) came through again with education, laughs, and great directions.
Today was more rainy than yesterday, but when you’re walking through the rain forest you don’t really know…or care.
We hiked two trails Hall of Mosses Trail and Spruce Nature Trail for a total of 2.1 miles and 95 ft elevation gain.
First up- Hall of Mosses.
I’m certain every shade of green is found in a rain forest.
Trees up, down, and all around. We learned more about fallen trees and their new roles as nurse
logs.
Prepare to see many plant and tree pictures. So tall. So wide. So many. I don’t want to forget what walking through this felt like.
Growth upon growth upon growth.
Y’all.
Ferns for days. So much to love about these hikes.
Just walking along and Kevin spotted a deer off the path. Magical.
Second up - Spruce Nature Trail
I spotted a banana slug! I wish I had something to put down next to some of the things I snapped pictures of. He was quite large. Apparently they can be up to 10 inches. See that redwood sorrel ☘️? So big compared to what we see at home. So that slug was just as surprisingly big to us.
Hoh River is the most beautiful blue thanks to glacier waters.
Using kids for sizing measurements. Just to get an idea we why we were seeing.
Roots from a fallen tree.
It’s that big! Also, ECV is impatiently waiting to be taller than SKV.
Another spotted.
Next was Ruby Beach. A super rainy experience but we put rain jackets on and took the short hike to the beach.
Downed trees lined up and down the beach.
All shapes or rockets jutting out of the ocean.
Not the beach we are familiar with. Another foggy day prevented us from see the full view but still an awesome experience.
We then headed to our final destination of Olympic. These were all along the road. I’m guessing hydrangeas or in the family. They behaved just like hydrangeas so I’m going with that. We passed some that were the deepest blue I’ve seen. Acidic soil right?
We hopped out for this short hike.
Back on the road to Quinault and got to see several waterfalls. I do love them.
We are finishing up our drive to North Cascades for tomorrow’s fun.
