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Hoquiam & QuinaultAug 14, 2009
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Green, Green, Green
Downed Trees
More Stuff
On Tuesday we left Chimacum and headed toward the west coast. We are currently in a campground on the Hoquiam River in Hoquiam, WA. Hoquiam lies at the east end of a 15-mile deep bay off the Pacific Ocean. It adjoins the larger town of Aberdeen. The campground isn't beautiful, but it has all the hookup and wifi requirements.
Today we drove north about 40 miles to Lake Quinault and the Quinault Rain Forest. We took a four mile stroll on a Loop Trail that runs through the forest and along the lake. This area of the peninsula receives about 12 feet of rain each year. The operative word is "green." Everything is covered in green.
The ecology of the area is fascinating. Because the trees have shallow roots they can be blown over by heavy winds. The fallen trees often serve as nurse logs for the sprouting of new trees. Over a long period of time the nurse logs decay and the tree remains with the top of its roots a foot or two above ground.
The last mile of the trail runs along the lake front. It is a pretty mountain lake with the Lake Quinault Lodge on its shores. The lodge is typical of many national park and national forest lodges built in the early 20th century.
After the loop walk we drove up the lake road for a few miles and took the short walk into the site of the world's largest spruce tree. The rain forest of the Olympic Peninsula has six record setting trees among the four predominant species of spruce, cedar, fir, and hemlock. (Sue is working on her tree identification skills.) The spruce was 191 feet tall.
We decided to head back to Hoquiam via a route along the ocean. We stopped at a restaurant along route 109 but, after looking at the menu, decided we would move on to something a little more economical. The stop wasn't wasted though. The restaurant had a really beautiful flower garden in the front.
We eventually had dinner at the Green Tavern in the small community of Copalis Beach. They had some surprisingly good roast beef and we were entertained by a competitive table shuffleboard game right next to our dining table.
We got back to Hoquiam at about 9:00 p.m. We need to go back out to the ocean to spend a little beach time.
