The Hoh in the Rain

Wandering around the Hoh Rain Forest was like nothing I have ever seen before. As I mentioned earlier the place is green covering green everywhere you look. We took two trails on the same day; one was Park Ranger led and the other was just us walking through the forest after reading everything at the information center. Both were fun in their own ways but I preferred the self tour to the Ranger’s musings because we actually looked harder for things on our own. The whole thing was great from so many perspectives though. The few pictures we got before the camera batteries were depleted were the frosting for this cake.

We had some rain (very little really) while we were there too. The Hoh river was interesting in that the color of the water is that pale teal color that glacier fed water has. It was cold to the max and there was a fantastic pull-in for the motorhome at the water’s edge. This meant that we had the water sound all night… there is nothing like that while-noised pebble rolling water for a transcendental moment or two.

We stopped just outside of Port Angeles where a small RV park is near a dam. That was good for a short hike and a few pictures as well but really could not compete with the deep in the forest feeling from the previous two days! Port Angeles is where Sandy grew up so there was a motorhome foray into some smaller neighborhoods to spice the visit up. Let’s see, can we squeeze this puppy though that little opening? Yikes!!! The next stop was Port Townsend where I had been for the first time only three weeks before. If at all possible we will come back for more of Port Townsend next year… it is like the sixties got stuck in some sort of retro vortex and walking around the small downtown area is something to be repeated.

Now we are back in Portland and getting ready for the next big bit of traveling. We need to pack very carefully and have no more than is really necessary for the Polynesian excursion!! My snorkel fins are the first thing to cause some rethinking but we did pick up some inexpensive larger bags to tote our stuff in so this might be easier than it seems at this early stage. Dietmar and Suzanne have made reasonable requests for things we need to bring as well so we will be off to track down some coffee and such as soon as the office at this RV park opens and we can check in (they were closed when we got here last night).