Don"t let this sunny picture fool you. The Hoh, a temperate rainforest on the western side of Olympic National Park in Washington state, sees between 12 and 14 feet of rain each year, making it one of the wettest places in the continental US. But all that moisture creates a lush, even mystical environment. The forest features a mix of conifers and deciduous trees draped heavily with moss, like the arching big leaf maple in our homepage image. A stroll through the forest will also reveal the massive Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees that may reach more than 300 feet up into the dense canopy. Below, the woods teem with ferns, lichen, and other vegetation. It"s an enchanted forest right out of a fairy tale.
Welcome to the Hoh
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Honoring some real heroes of World War II
-
Feelin groovy on Record Store Day
-
Train crossing the Tadami River in Japan
-
Nothing plain about it
-
Irohazaka road
-
Here we mark the price of freedom
-
Red fox
-
World Population Day
-
Dark skies over New Mexico
-
The Alhambra in Granada, Spain
-
Panda Day
-
Waiting for the perfect shot
-
Bluebells in Hertfordshire, England
-
Northern hawk-owl
-
Bird’s-eye view of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
-
Keep your hands inside the ride at all times…
-
Tracking ships on the Day of the Seafarer
-
World Lizard Day
-
Procida, Italy
-
The Door County Coastal Byway in Wisconsin
-
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
-
Horseshoe Bend, Arizona
-
Day of the Dead
-
I see one!
-
An inland ocean
-
Bukhansan National Park, South Korea
-
A misty morning in Brazil
-
Taughannock Falls State Park
-
Gone ‘lightseeing’ in Berlin
-
Honoring the rangers on World Ranger Day