Coast and Rainforest
Friday, July 6, 2007: We started by doing a little birding around the lodge. The highlight was a pair of Winter Wrens. Checking out was complicated a bit by computer problems, but they said they would just use the card on file. Then we were off.
After leaving Lake Crescent Lodge, we headed toward La Push. A flyby Goshawk provided some excitement before we turned off 101 to La Push. We tried the Second Beach trail, which required more up-and-down than expected. After a quick scan, Susan didn't see any point to checking the beach. I went on down, finding a pile of logs to crawl over. I took a few photos, and headed back up after Susan.
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| Beach and Logs | Warning Sign |
La Push itself was more interesting. Birds there included White-winged and Surf Scoters and Pacific Loon. After a look around and a stop for gas, we headed back toward 101 and the Hoh rain forest.
We took the Spruce Nature Trail at Hoh. We didn't think it looked that much like a rain forest. It was evident that many large trees had recently been toppled (possibly in last November's storms). This seemed to have opened up many areas along the trail, destroying the rain forest effect.
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| Furry Tree | Tall Tree | Hollow Log |
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| Big Tree and Little Tree | Old Tree/New Tree | Ostrich Tree |
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| Wildflowers | Trillium |
We looked at Ruby Beach and Beach Four in the Kalaloch area. Our first Band-tailed Pigeons were at Beach Four. The Quinault area came next. It's actually on national forest land, not part of the national park. We took the Quinault Nature Trail. This one looked like a rain forest! It also showed much less recent damage.
The final goal for the day was to get to Westport, and we arrived there around 7pm.
Harbor Resort, Westport, WA