THE HOH RAIN FOREST

The Hall of Moses runs through the heart of the Hoh Rain Forest. The trails meander through stands of conifers and bigleaf maples -- so the tour book says. I knew only that the impressive  trees were hung with long, thick shawls of moss and looked like they had been there since creation.

The forest looked wildly exotic to eyes used to the blackjack oaks and red cedars of  Oklahoma. The abundance of luxuriant plant growth that covered virtually every available surface did give the misty forest a jungle-like appearance. The forest floor was lush with ferns, mosses and thickets of berries and vines.

We noticed that many of the trees appeared to be standing on their toes. It happens, we learned, when a seed germinates on the decaying remains of a fallen tree, called a "nurse tree," and sends its roots down around the decomposing tree. The young trees are left standing on their roots.

I wish that I had asked Jill or Erik to stand by this tree. It is hard to appreciate how huge these giants are from a simple photo. I could have squeezed under the roots of this one. Just shows what time and up to 250 inches of rain a year can do. They say that the temperature rarely gets below freezing because of the protection of the mountains.