Sometimes your trips are not to get away, but to get to something. In this case, we were invited for a family holiday gathering in Seattle, WA. Bonnie, Teresa’s sister invited her family out for the Christmas and afterwards, for a couple of days in Olympia National Park.
Olympic National Park
Even when traveling to visit family or friends, sometimes it is nice to take some time to explore. Traveling never stops surprising me. I never knew there was a rain forest in the US before, and we find it in the Northwest US. Here, more rain falls and at the time of our trip, the rain was coming down as snow.
Rainforests are one of the Earth’s oldest living ecosystems. They are beautiful and so amazing. These incredible places cover only 6 %of the Earth’s surface but yet they contain MORE THAN 1/2 of the world’s plant and animal species! Most Rainforests can be described as tall, dense jungle. Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rainfall.
The reason it is called a “rain” forest is because of the high amount of rainfall or precipitation it gets per year. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world and in this case, near Seattle.
When we arrived at our cabins, the temperature was dropping and there were reports that it might snow. Snow? In a rainforest? It does snow and we were treated to some very large snow flakes.
Teresa and I have enjoyed a outdoor game called GeoCaching (www.geocaching.com) for years. It is a kind of high tech scavenger hunt using GPSs. One person uses a container to create a cache. They vary in size and the cache owner puts trinkets and items, including a log book in the container and hides the cache, marking the coordinates on their GPS. They then log into the geocaching site and post the cache for others to try to find. Once someone finds it, they sign the log book, and trade out (up) any items they want. Trading allows the next person to find it to trade even more. Trading is not required, but encouraged. Some people just like the thrill of the hunt and just sign the log book. There are also “trackable” items called travel bugs. These have unique numbers and might have a quest attached, like visiting a different zoo around the world. The finder who takes that agrees to move it along its quest. Cache owners are responsible for getting permission to place the cache from the property owner/manager and for maintaining the cache.
GPS’s are accurate, but still have a margin of error and in a forest with a thick canopy the margin increases. Add to that that the cache is camouflaged and hidden and it can be quite challenging. Also, it is a game of stealth. You don’t want EVERYONE knowing what you are doing, and that can be a challenge in more popular or populated areas.
With our nieces and nephews, we’ve made it a game of pirate treasure. We hike into the woods, GPS in hand with a list of “waypoints” and the search begins. This trip was no different. The caches were harder to find because of the snow. The nice thing was that our tracks were covered easily and quickly.
We had a wonderful time this trip. There is so much more to see and do in the area.
