The Moss Jungle!

You can find lots of moss in all the coastal forests from the Golden Gate north into Canada. But nowhere does the moss simply overwhelm the landscape like it does in the Olympic rainforest. Here, almost every plant, living or dead, and almost every building is covered with a fuzzy green cloak. The moss doesn't seem to hurt the trees; thriving evergreens and deciduous trees are cloaked with massive amounts of moss. The effect is ethereal. Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, parts of which have a climate similar to that of the Olympic rainforest; the movies could have been filmed here as well. If you're wondering about Mordor, just hop over to the lava fields in Central Oregon and you're there.

The moss is so thick that ferns thrive in it. Many places, like this branch of a tree, harbor both mosses and ferns. These shots were taken in the Quinault River drainage, in the southwestern part of Olympic NP.

Here, just about every tree and bush visible is totally cloaked in moss. I've never seen anything like it! It's like being in another world. To think that three weeks before I was in a barren desert within three days' drive of here. Actually, you can find sagebrush galore just one days' drive from here, in Eastern Washington.