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July 18-21
It was still raining at 5 this morning, so I rolled over went back to sleep - no dawn shooting today! Finally got up about 7.
I had breakfast in the room again, then went over to the lodge to share photos and have a one-on-one with Eddie, our leader. Made my sack lunch while Eddie was talking with another in our group. Soon it was my turn. I talked with Eddie after a while, then went back to the room to eat lunch.
After lunch, I drove to the Hoh Rain Forest. It continued to rain most of the way there and I almost didn’t take the camera out. But I walked the Hall of Mosses Trail (about a mile long) and the rain held off until I was almost back to the car. The drought is very evident this location. The moss hanging from the trees is brown and very brittle. Not the pretty green it normally is. The ranger here said that the Hoh Rain Forest is over 20 inches below normal for the year to date in rainfall.
There were some very noisy, obnoxious kids on the trail. They had just been made Junior Rangers and I thought they should have had their new badges lifted!!!
The two photos above were taken on the Hall of Mosses Trail. I spotted the root formation shown on the left first and was intrigued by the swirls it formed. when I moved on to the other side of this tree, I noticed the even more intriguing patterns on this second side (right photo). Several people passing on the trail mentioned that the formation looked like a cross between ET and a bird or bat with its wings partially folded.
The three photos above were also taken on the Hall of Mosses Trail. The photo on the left shows some mosses draping tree branches with ferns below them. Normally, the moss is as green as the ferns, but the drought this year has dried them out. The center photo shows patterns formed by evergreen branches in the forest. The photo on the right shows a tree that fell part way to the forest floor several years ago. It got caught in the branches of another tree and the encroaching mosses have joined the two.
On the drive back to Highway 101, I saw (through the trees) where the clouds were coming over the mountains and isolating trees. I really wanted to capture that image. It was hard to find a spot to pull off, however. I finally pulled off in a parking lot for fishermen, and walked out to the Hoh River. The effect was not as good there. the photo on the left is the best of the ones I shot here. All I really got for it was wet jeans. They were soaked up to the mid thigh from the grasses along the trail and I got a very wet rump from a downed tree crossing the trail - I had to sit on it to get over it. So, I drove back to the lodge in wet jeans. I hung them over a chair and they finally dried a couple of days later.
I quickly hopped into the shower when I got to the cabin, which helped me warm up. It felt very good.
Dinner was at the River View Restaurant in nearby La Push. The food was good, but they were short handed and so service was slow. My scallops were a little cold when they arrived at the table. I almost asked for a warm-up, but thought the microwave would toughen them. They were warm enough to eat and cooked just perfectly.
Then I returned to the cabin and walked over to the lodge for companionship and wine. Reena, my new roommate, showed up about midnight.