Enter the Hoh and Quinault Rain Forest...Well Sort of~

Well, if you are following my journey, you already know that this was our longest destination point...the Pacific Rain Forests, and Olympic National Park, in Washington.
My husby drove 500 miles plus a day for 5 days to reach Washington and this was day 6.
We were heading down the lane that takes you into the gates at Hoh Rain Forest and this particular morning, I must confess, I was sick at my stomach. 
I had watched the morning news, only to realize that the government SHUTDOWN was still in force and that this day, I would miss out on my long awaited 43 year dream of entering Hoh, Queets and Quinault Rain Forest. 
Chances are extremely slim, that this journey will ever come about again...
Just look at the colours unfolding in the image above, glorious beauty.
I hope that you will be sure to view the post prior to this one as well, for they go hand in hand on this journey made last month~


Remember to double click on the image, to view a larger slide show of the images shared

 

 I am linking up with Stewart at:

   Wild Bird Wednesday

        (http://paying-ready-attention-gallery.blogspot.com.au/)

I will also be linking up with Sylvia at:

SkyWatch Friday

I invite you to check out more 'Skywatch Friday' posts from around the world at:

http://skyley.blogspot.com/

A Common Raven rests upon a moss covered branch outside the gates~ 

The wondrous layers of colour and textures just took our breath away~  

 

 

Even snails and slugs grew larger here. 
An Oregon Junco is a subspecies of the Dark Eyed Junco and this was the only one that I saw, but hey, it was a bird...yea.
OK, did I go around the gates, did I step around them and defy the law...I will never tell.
Here I am with our 2 Long Coat German Shepherds.
9 month old Silveit to my right and 5 year old Meaka to my left~

Each of the images showing these trees and ferns and mosses, just totally mesmerized me.  I so wanted to just take off and wonder a bit, but this is also bear country and other wild things and so I did not dare risk any chances~

 

 

I would so appreciate a good ID on these birds in flight.  
The images were cropped, as the birds were far out and we were not allowed on the National Park beaches either...sigh!
I thought possibly White-winged Scoters, Wigeons, Scaups?
My guide does not show all of the possibilities in flight.
Thanking Phil Slade for proper ID...yea...White-winged Scoters~

Well at least Ruby Beach had a couple of pull offs to be able to at least stop and view some of the beauty, even if you could not poke your toes in the sand~

And then, there they were...we had not been able to view any whales along the coast so far and even though they were far away, they were there...yea!
I checked on Bing and Google and I am pretty sure that these would have been Gray Whales~

 A Common Raven perched atop driftwood at La Push~

We have now made it down the coast to Quinault Rain Forest area and yes, we cannot get in here either...the whole SHUTDOWN was absolutely miserable for many reasons, of which do not get me started, sigh, you would never hear the end of it~

 

 

 

A Pacific Northwest Song Sparrow~
 

 

 

We drove pretty far back on the loop and then came upon a couple driving toward us.  They had gone 6 more miles in and said, it was not worth the trip back in mostly a muddy dirt road way.  

It was us stopping to speak with them, that I heard a rush of water.  

It was not a large waterfall by any means, but there was just something about the timing, that really made me happy.  

We were missing the larger picture, but we were also viewing the smaller ones, and I had to smile~

Another little Pacific Northwest Song Sparrow in the Hydrangeas~