Continuing the rain forest tour, we come to the Hoh River.
At this time of year, and especially this year, which has been quite a bit drier than average, the river is a mere trickle. But since this valley typically receives 3.6 metres (142 inches!) of rain per year, you can image this river floods quite heavily. As indicated by the size of the tree sitting in the picture.
It's a little hard to tell, but underneath this tree it is hollow. This is because the tree started growing on a fallen tree; over the years, the new tree takes hold in the ground, and the fallen tree eventually decays away, leaving a hole at the base of the trunk of the new tree.
One consequence of this growth of trees on fallen logs is that a number of trees will grow in close proximity, and in a line! This is how these trees developed - all started out on the same fallen log, all survived into maturity. It's hard to show in a photo, but all four trees are in a line. This is called a colonnade.
One tree? No, it's actually a number of trees, which just happened to all grow in very close proximity. The tree on the left is dead; looking closely you can see the fungus growing on it. The others seemed quite healthy.
It's not just mosses which grow on other trees - so do ferns!
These two trees fell in sympathy, I guess. It's not very clear from the photo, but at the far end they are high enough off the ground to walk under, without ducking (at least for me).
Yet Another Moss Covered Tree.
And more of them. This was back on the road out.
Hoh Forest Tour