Rain Forest- Lake Quinault

The Rain Forest Resort Village is on lovely Lake Quinault. There are cabins, an inn and rv spots. We had stayed here on a vacation before and knew how nice it was. The best stop is the one closest to the water with an uninterrupted view of the lake. When we got there , that spot and the ones next to it were taken but they were smaller units and so we still had a little view. Then the next morning some of the people left. The couple in the second spot had moved their car into the prime spot but told us they were getting ready to do some hiking and then were leaving. Long story short we got the prime spot. YEAH!!! Last time we were here we were afraid the trees were too low for our MH and took the next spot. There was only one other person there and they were at the other end. So we had a great view and decided to stay another day. We went out kayaking and as we were coming back we saw another large motorhome driving around. There was no one else in the campground but us at that time. No, they parked in the prime spot and totally blocked out view of anything. This time, there was no hesitation, we pulled in our slides and moved over to the perfect spot.

 

Joe took some nice morning pictures. The water is like glass, so calm.

 

There are a number of hiking trails in this rain forest area. The Quinault Valley has six champion conifer trees that are recognized by the National Forestry Association as the largest specimens of their species. Only the redwoods and sequoias are taller. The largest Sitka Spruce in the world is right by our campground. The Western Red Cedar, Mountain Hemlock, and Douglas Fir(co champ) are also the largest in the World and the Western Hemlock and Yellow Cedar are the largest in the US. How cool.

We are in the national forest area, not the national park itself and so this area is pet friendly and so Savannah can go on all the trails. Yippee she barks.

We did our first hike on the Rain Forest Trail.

 

 

 

The forest is just beautiful with almost no ground that is not covered with ferns, moss covered plants and trees, other than the trail itself. There are also streams and even rainfalls, which we will see on another day's hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are downed trees everywhere. I was surprised that winds caused the majority of deaths in this rain forest.

 

 

Note a tree growing out of a tree stump. Nurse trees are fast growing large trees that protect smaller trees and plants as they grow. When the nurse tree dies and decays, it provides nutrition and shelter to help these other trees grow. No trees are removed when they die and so the forest continues to be dense with plants.

We liked the below saying which were found on our hike. It reflects our belief system.

Back home and we enjoy our beautiful view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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