Moss Halls of Hoh Rainforest

Moss Halls of Hoh Rainforest

I found Valhalla in this ancient, zoetic paradise.

I can’t even…the beauty of Hoh Rainforest, Olympic Peninsula, Washington is beyond words, but I will try my best to describe how it feels to walk over the roots, and under the canopy of ancient giants in the splendiferous land of Hoh.

The Land of Hoh

Pure oxygen, heavily infused with the scents of cedar bows, spruce needles and fern.

A patchwork canopy of lattice vines with hanging chandeliers of diffused sunshine,

drapes of lichen lace, velvet carpets of chartreuse moss that creep across bridges (created from the imperial corpses of the forest dead), over rounded bannister knobs, and up grand staircases of red cedar, sitka spruce, Douglas-fir and hemlock.

Where the dead give life to saplings that spring from the flesh of regal ancestors;

their nurseries decorated with toy balls of purple brain fungus.

A queendom of mortal skyscrapers,

 easy, great-horned beasts and long-legged herons,

The ancient land of Hoh.

-Mix Hart, 2018

Rare lettuce lichen is a favourite food for the elk. It requires the cool, moist conditions found only under the canopy of old-growth forests.

These ancient forest can never be replaced. Once logged, they cease to exist on Earth. Their existence requires decaying, ancient (nurse) trees, that must have naturally come to the end of their lifecycle (1000+ years), in order to provide the rare nutrients needed for the new sapling trees, and rare moss, lichen, and fungus to grow.

Please enjoy a pictorial saunter through the most beautiful forest I have explored to date.

Elk caught in graceful bridge crossing.

Bridges of regal giants.

Me sitting on moss covered staircase in Valhalla.

My daughters playing amongst towering friends.

Moss staircase to paradise.

Ball of purple brain fungus: in nature, these balls of fungus are fascinatingly beautiful. 

Imperial forest ancestor with young trees growing from its decaying corpse: in death, this regal giant tree provides essential nutrients to ensure the health and survival of the old growth rainforest.

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