Tag Archives: Hoh Rain Forest

Roosevelt

Posted on by

Elk bull in the Hoh Rainforest area of Olympic National Park

The race of elk we have in the Pacific Northwest are known as Roosevelt elk, which I believe are named for Theodore Roosevelt in honor of his early push to protect them. I came across this bull, part of a larger herd, on a rainy morning near the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

While President Cleveland protected some of the forests of the Olympic Peninsula in 1897 by declaring an Olympic Forest Reserve, the protection did not extend to the elk who lived there and in a few years less than 2,000 survived. President Roosevelt (Theodore, not Franklin) established the Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909 to protect the elk, but future politicians cut back the acreage to half of its original size.

President Roosevelt (Franklin, not Theodore) granted National Park status in 1938 after visiting the area, the status it has retained to the current day, protecting not only the elk that bear the Roosevelt name but also the many plants and animals that are unique to the Olympic Peninsula.

You can find more info about the park at the official park site and in a PDF on the history of its park status.

Wet Greens

Posted on by

Green plants in a shallow stream in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park

With melting snow and approaching rain, I shoveled out a channel along the side of our street in Portland so all of that water would have some place to go. I know from past experience with fallen leaves that if the area beside our driveway isn’t completely clear we end up with a little lake where the driveway meets the road.

The Hoh River in Olympic National Park is also fed by melting snow, but this snow is from glaciers high in the Olympic range that grind rocks into silt that color the runoff a milky blue. I suspect this little stream running through the Hall of Mosses Trail is spring fed, as unlike the Hoh its clear waters showed the brilliant green plants that were swaying in the gentle current.

Hoh Hoh Hoh

Posted on by

Elk bull in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park

I knew that there were Elk in Olympic National Park and we had seen one in the Hoh Rainforest on our trip there a few years ago, but I hadn’t expected to see them on this trip. As it turns out I saw them in again in the Hoh and wanted to photograph them in the lush green forests to contrast with the sea of browns of many of my elk pictures from Yellowstone. This bull was one of two that were browsing in the streams next to the Hall of Mosses Trail in the Hoh Rainforest.

Where’s Boolie?

Posted on by

Self-portrait in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park

The past few years I’ve made it a point to take self-portraits as I travel on my hiking trips but I didn’t take any while at Mount Rainier National Park. Partially because I wasn’t in the mood, I didn’t want to take pictures of myself while pikas and marmots were around. Partially because I usually didn’t have the tripod along on the long hikes with thousands of feet in elevation change.

When I arrived in Olympic National Park, however, I was both in the mood and had the tripod along. I took some portraits in the Quinalt Rainforest during the couple of hours I had there, then the next morning took this one in the Hoh Rainforest. This one is probably my favorite self-portrait ever, it highlights both the massive size of these ancient trees and my silly mood.