Hoh Rainforest

So on Saturday afternoon, after we left Rialto Beach, Mom and I headed to the Hoh Rainforest. Another wonderful thing about the Northwest: rainforests! These aren't tropical rainforests with ferns and spider-monkey's scurrying about. These rainforests have moss carpeting the ground and suffocating the trees, with elk eating their way through the brush. We decided to hike for a little bit on the Hoh River Trail. This trail is actually 17 miles one way, but we decided to hike about 3 miles in (6 miles round trip) with promises of a beautiful waterfall to view. The trail was fairly flat, but for excitement we got to cross a couple of streams. And we were super-psyched to see elk along the trail. Actually, a whole herd of elk. There were at least 30 elk scattered next to the trail. And several were very close to us, 15 feet away. They weren't scared when people came along. They stood quietly for pictures and continued eating. Beautiful creatures. After our hike we drove two hours back to the city of Port Angeles. (It's the biggest city close to the Olympic National Park.) We stayed at a really nice Best Western and ate dinner at an excellent Italian restaurant. I had a smoked salmon ravioli with a sun-dried tomato and dill cream sauce. Really good. After hiking 3 miles in the morning and an additional 6 miles that afternoon, we fell asleep quickly that night to prepare for our next day!