Rain Forest

It rains about 120 inches a year in the rainforest of northwest Washington, and five inches of it has fallen on my helmet so far on this loop around Mt. Olympus.  Trees thrive in this rainy place and grow to immense sizes, they say, though I can’t verify that, only having seen them from the road while cycling.  The undergrowth is much too dense to penetrate without a trail or machete-wielding guide.  I’ve been riding for three days and am one third of the way around the great mountain without seeing it; the forest is too dense or there are lower peaks in the way.  

I didn’t expect northwest Washington to be so primitive.  I’ve had almost no cell phone or internet until now.  If you get lost up here or make a wrong turn, or if the map you’re following is wrong, it can be fifty miles of hard pedaling just to find someone to ask.  And then you’re stuck with no way of getting to your destination before midnight.  

I was thankful for the friendly man at the Rain Forest Hostel who put me up for the night in a room with six beds.  And very thankful to find the I was the only one staying there that night.  

He’s much into Subarus and Bernie Sanders.  His long lecture made it clear that they are his obsessions.  He speaks coherently on things automotive and political, and on most of his passions I agree.  He has lives here for 34 years and preaches to everyone he meets—Bernie mostly, but also real democracy as he envisions it.  

Elk thrive up here with all the rain—not so much touring bicyclists.  The top picture is a herd of about twenty elk near the Rain Forest Hostel.  I could hear the headman, the buck, whistling for his harem to follow him away from the encroaching human as I took these shots.  

Michael Angerman has prepared a map showing all of my nightly sleeping places, as he has done for my trips many times before.  From this you can trace my route.  He updates it almost daily Thank you, Michael.  Please click here:  Michael's Map