<< Above The Clouds To Lake Angeles

09/29/08 - The Hoh Sun Forest

The Hoh Rain Forest is famous for its cloudy days. After all, it is a rain forest. But the forest also has its sunny aspect, so we got to enjoy the nearly as famous Hoh Sun Forest the other day. For most of our hike up to Five Mile Island and back, the sky was cloudless. The sun was brilliant and the river a glorious milky blue.

We hadn't been up this way for about a year, so we did notice a few changes. In particular, one of our favorite trees was gone, or at least severely damaged. That's the One Arm Tree which is not far from Five Mile Island and served as a landmark for years. There were a number of damaged trees along the trail. We have one or two suspects which might have been the One Arm Tree. In one case, the main branch is doing fine. In the other, the tree has fallen. We suspect the damage was from last November's violent wind storms which damaged so many trees around the peninsula.

The season is changing too. We spotted some autumn leaf color, mainly in the little maples along the river. We could see how the river has changed its flow, shoveling gravel and drift logs this way and that, and biting chunks out of the trail along the banks. For the most part, the trail is the same, but it changes with the years and seasons. That's one of the reasons we go back again and again.

The view from our picnic spot at Five Mile Island

Another view of the river

We fear that the One Arm Tree has lost its arm.

Perhaps this was the arm?

Or perhaps this was?

Late afternoon light on the trail

Hoh River and mountains

The waterfall

More river color

Some autumn color

This elk by the side of the road is probably a young bull, still bulking up.

Keywords: autumn, hoh rain forest, elk, waterfall