![]() IT'S FALLL! Living in the Northwest is sometimes so similar to living in Southern California, except for when the leaves turn all different colors! What is this?! And once you get past the city and into the forest (which is only a short drive) its a completely different world than we are used to. Surreal actually. One of the first things we wanted to do when we moved to Seattle was to visit all the national parks near us. We went to Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park in the summer because we had time and sunny skies. It has always been Isaac's goal to see elk during their competitive mating season, so when we found out that they peak in September we knew we had to go see the elk rut! We woke up at 3:50am on Saturday morning, loaded the car and left. When we finally reached the campsite it was around 8 am. We got a great spot next to the Hoh River and set up our tent. The Hoh River, like many rivers nearby, is a place where salmon swim upstream to spawn.
Since we had never been on this trail, the lush temperate rainforest absolutely floored! The moss that was brown in the summer was now a blindingly bright green. Moss effortlessly hung from 200ft tall trees, forming lush strands that didn't move at all. No wind moved a single leaf, creating a silent, deep rainforest where our bodies were the only parts moving. Until the light rain started. You could hear it above but only tiny drops reached the forest floor. Small ferns and berry plants seemed to dance with each drop of rain that hit their leaves. Huge fungi and tiny mushrooms speckled the trees. We turned back after we had been hiking for an hour, and in the distance we saw a group staring off the path into the dense forest, and as we glanced to our right we saw the most enormous elk we had ever seen. It stood about 10 feet tall with a rack of antlers that extended 5 feet above it. The bull elk encountered another male, and let out a long, loud bugle. The cow (female) elk scattered amongst the background stared at us as their ears twitched slightly. The lesser bull elk gave up the fight before it began, he was half the size of the more mature bull so he walk toward us, laid down, and began to eat as hikers took photos of him. ![]() Later that night, we made a fire and couldn’t stop talking about all the animals we had seen. Isaac always wants to see more but I think we got pretty lucky. The next day we got up around 8am and drove to Ruby Beach. We walked down to the shore, Isaac made cairns, and we climbed on the huge rocks and looked at the tide pools. We finally headed home after another full day of exploring.
ALSO If you're feeling festive you HAVE to try this pumpkin ale. It tastes like pumpkin pie in beer form without all the sweetness! Perfect!
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Isaac + Taylor
This is a blog to help us document our travels, hope you enjoy it! Find us on Instagram@isaac.l.nelson
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October 2016
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