The Pacific Northwest

An old journal entry

Photo by Josh Gordon, Unsplash

I wake up at 6 am PST every morning. Sometimes I close my eyes for a bit to hear the birds chirp. I close my eyes for a bit to reflect on life and other things.

Currently, I am at Olympic National Park enjoying nature truly for the first time in a while. I can’t tell you how much I missed being outdoors, either camping or hiking. It feels like it’s been a long time since I was out in nature. I love camping especially in the Olympic National Park isolated from the rest of the world because, in national parks, there is no internet service unless you have Verizon. I am out in nature with my best friend and her boyfriend for nearly a year but we are having fun.

We spotted an elk in our campsite so close to us in proximity but the park rangers are getting the elk to a safer spot away from humans. It was the first time we all had a wild animal so close to us in proximity.

Then we went to Hoh Rainforest. Hoh Rainforest is a temperate rainforest. It’s the finest example of temperate rainforest in the United States and the most popular destination in the park. Hoh is on the west side of Olympic National Park and is two hours away from Port Angeles, Washington, and under an hour from Forks, Washington (yes, the Twilight Vampire City).

My friends and I went on a short hike where we learned a lot about the trees of the Hoh Rainforest. The types of trees that are common in the Hoh Rainforest are Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir, and Western Hemlock. Most of the trees are covered in clumps of hanging moss and ferns. There were a lot of old-growth and nursery trees as well.

Oh! And the park ranger told us about lettuce lung lichens, which fall from trees onto the ground. Apparently, elk love lettuce lung lichens. I learned a lot during this weekend camping trip. I highly recommend everyone to visit the Olympic National Park and Hoh Rainforest at least once in their lives.

Thank you for reading my article and being part of my journey as I write continuously on Medium. Much love.