Olympic National Park

- A Diverse Land of Coast and Forest

               Surf and Sea Stacks

   Olympic National Park is located along the Pacific coast of Washington.  I think of it as a very diverse park, with a northern section bearing grand mountain peaks, a coastline with sea stacks and tide pools filed with starfish, and the only rain forest in the U.S.

   The photo above was taken at the end of a fine day in June spent hiking and photographing. The waves were just beginning to pick up a touch of warm light as sunset approached. All of my images of this park were taken back in the days when photographers actually used film, consequently there are some images that I don't yet have digitized, and so will have to be saved for a later post some other day.
Tech info:  Nikon F3, 500mm mirror lens, Fujichrome Velvia, filmscan

                                      Hoh Rain Forest- Trail between fallen logs

  This photo illustrates the size of the trees and logs that one finds in the Hoh Rain Forest.  It's also memorable to my wife and I for the following story.  Before we took this hike in the rain forest, I convinced my wife to come see the starfish in the tidal pools along the coast.  Unfortunately, while crossing a small wash on the way to the tide pools, my wife slipped and fell into the water.  Luckily, she wasn't hurt, but the red jacket that she is wearing in the above photo got soaked, and her pocket filled up with sand and muck. As the day wore on, she began to notice that her jacket was getting an increasingly strong odor of decaying marine life.  Just about this point in the trail, we met another couple hiking up the trail.  As we passed, we heard the woman ask her husband "What on earth is that smell...?"  

                                   House of the Forest Elf?

   My wife was a reading teacher at the time we took this trip.  She used to talk about writing beginning children's reading books, and using my photographs for illustrations.  This stump looked to us like it had a series of steps on the right side, perhaps to where a forest elf enters his house?

                         River and Mist

Tech Info:  Nikon F3, Nikkor 24-55mm, Velvia

      

                                Tree trunk- Hoh Rain Forest

   (Notes for Camera Buffs)-  This photo was taken with a Sinar monorail 4" x 5" view camera that I acquired just before taking this trip.  Since this camera is designed more for use in a studio than for taking out into the filed, I decided to build a wooden box to fit the camera in, and modified a two-wheeled luggage cart to carry the entire assembly on.  Although one can't particularly tell it from these photos, the trails of the Hoh Rain Forest involve considerable elevation changes.  Which is fine, except the trail has what seems like a million small steps.  So, my hikes through the rain forest that year were marked by a series of "ker-plunk, ker-plunk, ker-plunks"  as I wheeled my view camera up and down those steps.  On getting home, I traded it for a field camera. 

  

                                    Nurse Log

   When I look at this image, I always see a pair of legs wrapped around each other.  I wonder- is that what I like about it?

Tech info:  Sinar monorail 4" x 5", 90 mm lens, Kodak T-Max 100, film scan  

I hope that my friends who view this post will enjoy these images.  Or maybe better yet, that they will be inspired to go and visit this wonderful treasure of a park for themselves!

Bill