Part 2

An extraordinary forest has developed along the western slopes of the Coast Range where moisture is available in the greatest abundance. The most typical and beautiful expression of this coastwise forest is found in the western valleys and on the coastal plain of the Olympic Peninsula. It is the most luxuriant growth in any temperate climate and may properly be called a rain forest. This temperate-climate rain forest, however, is not like the rain forests of the hot, superhumid tropics. Here, there are tall conifers instead of broad-leaved trees; there are mosses and ferns on the ground instead of an understory of vines.

The rain forest is principally distinguished by the presence of Sitka spruce. This tree grows only in a narrow belt along the coast from northern California to Alaska. The other trees of the rain-forest community have much wider distribution.

The trees of this forest are among the largest in the world. Many of them have trunks that exceed 10 feet in diameter at 4½ feet above the ground, and are up to 300 feet tall. The largest known trees in the park for the most common species are: western redcedar, 21 feet 4 inches in diameter; Sitka spruce, 13 feet 4 inches; Douglas-fir, 14 feet 5 inches; western hemlock, 9 feet; and Pacific silver fir, 6 feet 10 inches.

A visit to the rain forest offers a surprisingly enjoyable experience. Although it is possible to drive through some sections, this provides only a view of the trees. A forest is more than a stand of trees—it includes animal life, smaller plants, and micro-organisms, such as bacteria. All these serve the forest and in turn, their well-being depends upon the forest. They form the forest community.

Splendid examples of rain forest may be seen in the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault Valleys, but the Hoh Valley is the most accessible. A paved road runs 19 miles up the Hoh from U.S. 101, ending 7 miles inside the park boundary where a National Park Service campground has been developed. The Hoh River Trail starts just beyond the nearby visitor center. It extends 18 miles to Glacier Meadow, close to Blue Glacier on Mount Olympus. Approximately 12 miles of it is in rain forest along the valley bottom. Only a small fraction of this distance need be traveled, however, to see the forest.

Unexpectedly, one finds this forest beautifully luminous. It is filled with soft, green light that drops down where it can find room between the towering spruces and hemlocks. In the lower levels of the forest it filters through the translucent leaves of the vine maple and bounces from one green surface to another. Nature, in an exuberant mood, has lavishly decorated this forest with mosses and clubmosses. Moss carpets, with patterns of Oregon oxalis and beadruby, cover the forest floor. The same material upholsters fallen trees and the trunks of those standing. Mosses ascend to the very tops of some of the tallest trees. Arched trunks of vine maple are cushioned with them. Curtains of clubmosses hang from the same archways, separating one green forest room from another.

The forest cycle from seed germination to death of giant trees and their return to soil may be seen here in the course of a short stroll. This is a cycle endlessly repeated. No part of it is disturbed by man. Trees felled either by uprooting or by breaking of the trunk are scattered everywhere in various degrees of decay. Rain-forest trees have shallow but widespreading roots. To obtain nourishment, there is no need for deep roots where water is available in dependable abundance. But shallow roots in saturated soil do not always anchor trees firmly enough against storm winds.

Though dead and prostrate, the fallen trees still have an important function in the forest. They are soon accepted into the forest-floor community and become covered with lichens and mosses. Various fungi and bacteria attack them from within. They become nurseries for spruce and hemlock, whose seedlings prefer rotting wood. The most vigorous seedlings outgrow all others and send their roots down the flanks of the rotting log and into the ground. Such old nurse logs, if big enough, will last until the trees they foster grow to large size. Colonnades of huge trees may thus be seen straddling old moldering logs. Seeds may even take root upon a broken stump 12 feet or more above the ground. The roots reach the soil after creeping down the full length of the stump. The result, when the stump rots and crumbles away, is a tree standing on stilts. Thus the forest is regenerated. New life compensates death. There is neither increase nor decrease in total amount. What is dead eventually returns to soil and feeds the living. This is brought about through the work of saprophytes—plants without chlorophyll, the substance which gives plants their green color. They must obtain their food already made and are content to take it dead. Many of these are mushrooms and other fungi with colorful and beautifully shaped fruiting bodies. No better description of their function in the forest can be found than that written by Donald Culross Peattie.

Breaking up the debris of what was living, releasing the precious materials in it, these fungi, and certain bacteria, retrieve the vital elements from what would otherwise be a permanent and cumulative and ultimately disastrous loss. They are part of what we call decay, but they are as much a part of life. They turn over its wheels....

MOUNTAIN VEGETATION

A visit to Olympic is not complete without at least one trip into the high country. Aside from the numerous trails that lead up into the mountains, there are two high country areas that may be reached by car. These are Hurricane Ridge and Deer Park. Whether the trip is made on trail or on road, an understanding of the changing pattern of plantlife will make it more enjoyable.

The climate at the top of a mountain is unlike that at the base; accordingly, the plants are different. Plant scientists have found that these vegetation differences on a mountain are similar to the changes seen between the equator and the poles. Generally speaking, each 100-foot rise in elevation is equivalent to about a 20-mile distance north. Although the change may be gradual, there are distinguishable belts of vegetation on a mountain. These belts are called life zones and have names that indicate their correspondence to zones between the equator and the poles.

Altogether there are four life zones in the Olympic Mountains: Transition, Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic-Alpine. The vegetation of the last three is similar to that of regions to the north at lower elevations, as indicated by their names.

The Transition zone in the Olympics is the lowest. It is intermediate between southern and northern vegetation. The lowland forests, including the rain forest already described, are in this zone.

The next two zones also are forest, but somewhat different. The highest, or fourth, zone is treeless. The boundaries between the forest zones here are not sharp; it is difficult to know exactly where one ends and the next begins. This merging of forest zones in the Olympic Mountains may be due to the equable temperature extending well up the mountain slopes.

The Canadian zone should be apparent when an elevation of 2,000 feet is reached. The forest of this zone is somber compared with that of the Transition zone. Although it has many kinds of small shrubs and herbaceous plants, it lacks the striking greenness of the Transition forest. Western white pine and Pacific silver fir have entered it. Western redcedar is absent, while Douglas-fir and western hemlock remain. There are numerous saprophytes on the forest floor—most of them flowering plants such as pinedrops, Indian-pipe, and coralroot.

The Hudsonian zone is next, and is the highest one having forest vegetation. Around 3,500 feet elevation there is a mingling of Canadian and Hudsonian trees. Some trees of the Canadian zone are still found, but some different kinds are included in the forest composition. The characteristic Hudsonian zone trees are mountain hemlock, Pacific silver fir, alpine fir, and Alaska-cedar. The last-named has typical cedar foliage. Its branches and twigs droop as if they were wilted. Trees in this zone are much smaller than those at lower altitudes and become still smaller with every upward step. At the uppermost fringe of tree growth the winds hold them close to the ground as deformed growths. This is known as _krummholz_, a German word meaning “crooked wood.” The name is applied to stunted forest commonly found in alpine regions. Timberline in the Olympic Mountains is generally at about 5,000 feet, which coincides with the height of many of the ridgetops. The beginning of the Hudsonian zone is the beginning of the high country. The sky is bluer and in summer an alpine fragrance adds zest to the air. The forested slopes give way, in depressions, to meadows that are brilliant with wildflowers in summer. Basins carved by snow and ice hold numerous mountain lakes, with streams flowing into and out of them.

The Hudsonian meadows, in depressions above 3,500 feet, are knee-deep in grass in July and August, and flowers form a medley of color. Aster, pedicularis, arnica, shootingstar, cinquefoil, and false-hellebore are among the conspicuous flowers there.

Stream margins and marshy ground are preferred by such plants as marshmarigold and globeflower.

Higher in the Hudsonian zone there are prairielike meadows where flowers bloom in profusion. Extending 60 miles across the north and east sides of the park there are thousands of acres of this meadowland on the ridges. Hurricane Ridge is in the midst of this and presents some of the finest flower displays. Some slopes in early summer are white with avalanche lilies, one of the most abundant and widespread of the mountain flowers. Near timberline they grow among the trees, as well as in the open. Other meadows are yellow with pure stands of glacier lily, one of the earliest of spring flowers. Impatient with winter, it pushes through the thinning snowbanks. Where soil is deep, subalpine lupine blooms profusely. Among the most common and conspicuous in rich meadows are larkspur, buttercup, cinquefoil, paintbrush, arnica, tiger lily, and mountain buckwheat.

Several plants found in the mountains in the northeast part of the park, where rainfall is lighter, are more typical of the hot, arid lowlands of eastern Washington and Oregon. Some of these are nodding onion, woolly eriophyllum, and barestem lomatium—their presence in the mountains may be due to the fact that the broad ridgetop meadows in the northeastern part of the park are remnants of a lower plain where these plants grew before the Olympic Mountains had risen to their present height. As the mountains were pushed up, these plants could have continued to grow and reproduce despite changing conditions.

On hillsides where the rock has weathered only into chips, or where little soil has formed, carpets of spreading phlox and rosettes of Lyall lupine are most conspicuous in early summer. Some plants grow on talus slides, on rocks broken and tumbled from peaks above, and on rocks laid bare by retreating glacial ice. Lichens and mosses, pioneers among plants, etch the rock with weak acids and thus start the slow conversion of rock into soil. Some flowering plants are pioneers, too. Common ones growing in crevices and soil pockets among the rocks in the Hudsonian zone are smooth douglasia, alumroot, and bluebell. Eventually, a flowered meadow or forested slope develops where first there was only bare rock.

The Arctic-Alpine zone is the region above timberline. It corresponds to the arctic meadows of northern Canada. In the Olympics its lower limit is about 5,000 feet and its upper limit is the tops of the peaks.

It is a harsh environment. Its shallow soil and rocks, its wind and prolonged snow and cold exclude all but the hardiest perennials. Annuals cannot live there. One growing season is too short for a plant to start from seed, complete its vegetative growth, flower, and ripen its seeds. Many of the plants are surface plants, such as mosses and lichens, which do not produce flowers. But even the flowering plants hug the ground. Their over-wintering buds are at or below the ground surface. It is a struggle for moisture and against time. Only low perennials, having small, tough leaves covered with hairs or wax, are able to survive. These properties help protect the plants against loss of water.

There are 8 kinds of mountain plants in the Olympics that are not known to grow anywhere else. It appears that these plants grew in the Olympic Mountains before the ice came and were able to survive on ridgetops that remained free of glacial ice during the long cold periods. They are thus relicts from preglacier time. None of them are trees and only two are shrubs. All the rest are herbs. Several of these, among which piper bellflower and Flett violet are especially attractive, may be found on Hurricane Ridge and on the upper slopes of Mount Angeles.

Snow is vital to mountain flowers. It provides most of the moisture for their growth and governs the length of the growing season. Spring flowers appear earliest where the snow melts first. Where snow piles up deeply, it may not melt completely till midsummer or may melt too late for plants to complete a season’s growth. On northern slopes the snow may remain all summer, and there can be no growing season.

The high country has many floral patterns, which change as the seasons progress. The flower displays are usually best around the middle of July. Flowers of spring, summer, and autumn are blooming then, according to the progress of the seasons in different elevations and habitats.

How To Identify Some Common Plants

Out of more than a thousand kinds of trees, shrubs, ferns, and flowering herbs on the Olympic Peninsula, 28 are described in the following paragraphs. While this is but a small fraction of the total, they represent the most common and noticeable plants that can be identified easily.

The park is a sanctuary for all natural features, and care should be taken not to disturb, injure, or destroy trees, flowers, or other plantlife.

TREES

DOUGLAS-FIR (_Pseudotsuga menziesii_) gives principal distinction to the Northwest forests. Growing from sea level to 5,000 feet elevation, it is the most abundant and widespread tree on the Olympic Peninsula. Average mature trees in the virgin forests of the lowlands are 180 to 250 feet in height and 4 to 6 feet in diameter. The largest on record—14 feet 5 inches in diameter—is located in the Queets River Valley, about 3½ miles by trail from the end of the road. Next to the sequoias of California the Douglas-fir is the largest tree in the forest of the Western Hemisphere.

Large Douglas-firs in the forest commonly have nearly cylindrical boles, clear of limbs for a hundred feet. Such trees have a reddish-brown bark which is rough with ridges and deep furrows. The cones, whether on the tree or on the ground beneath the tree, provide easy and reliable identification. They are mostly 2½ to 3 inches long with 3-pointed, thin bracts protruding among the scales. The seeds are a favorite food of the Douglas squirrel.

WESTERN REDCEDAR (_Thuja plicata_) grows in the valley bottoms and other moist places. Although it is mainly a lowland tree, it extends up into the Canadian zone wherever conditions are favorable. Large trees in the forest average 150 to 175 feet in height and 3 to 8 feet in diameter. The largest western redcedar on record is 21 feet 4 inches in diameter. It is located in the Pacific Coast Area near Kalaloch and can be reached by a short spur road near Beach Trail 6.

The trunk of the western redcedar commonly tapers rapidly from a swollen and sometimes fluted base. Its bark is thin, fibrous, and stringy. The foliage hangs in long, lacy sprays. It is the only tree of the lowland forests which has leaves that are tiny, overlapping scales.

WESTERN HEMLOCK (_Tsuga heterophylla_) is abundant in Northwest forests up to about 3,000 feet elevation. Large forest trees are 125 to 175 feet in height and 2 to 4 feet in diameter. The largest recorded specimen of this tree, 9 feet in diameter, is located above Enchanted Valley in the park. Western hemlock can be identified by its foliage and cones. The needles vary in length from ¼ to 1 inch and are pliable and round-pointed. The lacy sprays of foliage have a delicate appearance. The top shoot of the tree bends over in an arc—another identifying characteristic. The cones, about three-quarters of an inch long, are usually abundant near the ends of the branches.

SITKA SPRUCE (_Picea sitchenis_) is a coastwise tree from Alaska to California. In the park it is common only in the rain forest on the west side. There, large trees are 225 to 300 feet in height and 5 to 8 feet in diameter. Many are 10 feet or more in diameter. The largest specimen recorded, 13 feet 4 inches in diameter, is located in the park about 4 miles above the Hoh Ranger Station. Sitka spruce and the three preceding species comprise what might be called the “big four” in Olympic forests.

Sitka spruce can be identified by its stiff and very sharp-pointed needles. They are ½ to ¼ inches long and extend outward from all sides of the twig. It can be distinguished from other associated trees by the thin silvery-gray to purplish-gray scales on its bark. The base of the tree is commonly enlarged because of the massive roots that grew downward from the top of a stump or large fallen tree where the seed germinated.

PACIFIC SILVER FIR (_Abies amabilis_) is a tree of middle elevations, or the Canadian zone. In favorable sites, it attains a height of 140 to 160 feet and a diameter of 2 to 4 feet. The record tree, 6 feet 10 inches in diameter, is by the Bogachiel River about 8 miles by trail from the end of the road. A striking characteristic of this needle-leaved tree is its smooth, ashy-gray bark, conspicuously marked with chalky-white areas and numerous resin blisters.

ALPINE FIR (_Abies lasiocarpa_) is the spirelike tree of the highest life zone, the Hudsonian. Under favorable conditions it reaches a height of 60 to 90 feet, but at timberline it is a twisted, stunted growth only a few feet high. Its narrow crown extends to the ground, which makes this tree particularly susceptible to crown fires. Many ridgetop areas have “silver” forests of bleached trunks of fire-killed alpine fir. The purple to gray-purple cones, 2 to 4 inches long, stand upright on the branches as in all true firs.

ALASKA-CEDAR (_Chamaecyparis nootkatensis_) is a Hudsonian zone tree, easily identified by its foliage. The slender, drooping branches and flat, weeping sprays appear to be wilted. The leaves are of tiny, overlapping scales. This tree could be confused with the western redcedar, but as the two grow at different elevations identification should be easy. The largest specimen recorded, 7 feet 8 inches in diameter, is on the trail to Hart Lake above Enchanted Valley.

PACIFIC MADRONE (_Arbutus menziesii_) is a tree of the lower elevations distinguished by its smooth, reddish-brown trunk and branches and its shiny, leathery, broad-leaved, evergreen foliage. The bark of the trunk may be loosely scaly, peeling off in long, thin, irregular pieces. This is especially noticeable in late summer when new, light-green bark is exposed by the flaking away of the older red bark.

SHRUBS

SALAL (_Gaultheria shallon_) is the most common shrub in the forests of the Olympic Peninsula. Near the coast it grows 6 to 10 feet high in nearly impenetrable stands. Inland and at higher elevations up to about 3,000 feet, it is much smaller. Its evergreen, leathery leaves with finely toothed edges are easily distinguished from those of other shrubs. They are oblong and mostly 2 to 3 inches long. Urn-shaped, white to pink flowers in 1-sided racemes become black, edible berries later in summer. These berries were gathered by coast Indians and made into syrup or thick, dried cakes.

PACIFIC RED ELDER (_Sambucus callicarpa_). This large shrub becomes noticeable along roadsides in summer because of its large, dense clusters of brilliant red “berries.”

CREAMBUSH ROCKSPIREA (_Holodiscus discolor_) is an erect shrub, growing 5 to 14 feet high. In June it becomes conspicuous in lowlands because of its numerous, large, dense, drooping sprays of cream-colored flowers. Ocean spray is another common name for this shrub.

NONWOODY PLANTS

FIREWEED (_Epilobium angustifolium_). The rose-colored, spirelike, flowered tops attract attention wherever it is found. The name fireweed has been given because it comes up quickly in burned areas. It is not restricted to burned places, however, for it grows wherever there is unpreempted space in sunny locations, as along roadsides. It may be seen in flower throughout the summer, since it grows from sea level to 5,000 feet in elevation. The blooming progresses to higher elevations as the season advances. Its leaves are similar to those of willow, which accounts for another common name—willowweed.

WESTERN SWORDFERN (_Polystichum munitum_). This is the western counterpart of the common Christmasfern. It is a large, conspicuous, evergreen fern—the most prominent fern in these forests. The individual leaflets are lance-shaped, have fine-toothed edges, and are attached to the stem of the frond by means of a short stalk.

DEERFOOT VANILLALEAF (_Achlys triphylla_). This is probably the most common herbaceous, flowering plant in these forests from sea level to about 4,000 feet in elevation. It is a foot or more in height and commonly forms extensive patches. It can be identified easily by the three broad, fan-shaped leaves at the top of the slender, wiry stem. If the central leaf is bent back, the other two represent a spreading, green-winged butterfly. The small flowers form a slender, white, upright spike above the leaves. The foliage contains a compound which has the fragrance of vanilla. This is given off when the leaves wilt and accounts for another popular name—sweet-after-death.

OREGON OXALIS (_Oxalis oregana_). This small, delicate, white-flowered plant, has leaves that resemble a three-leaf clover. It grows among the mosses in the moist, shady forest and is especially noticeable in the plant carpet on the floor of the rain forest. The plant contains oxalic acid, which gives the leaves a pleasant sour taste. Another common name is wood sorrel.