TR: Rain Forest Adventure

I know some think of the great jungles of the tropics when a rain
forest is mentioned, but the Olympic Peninsula rivers get 12 feet of
rain each year, and the moss hangs from the trees and carpets the
ground much as it does in the south. Our trip was two days on the Hoh
followed by one on the Queets.

My son Andy talked me into camping in the National Park campground at
the end of the Hoh River road, and that turned out to be a good idea.
Room for a couple hundred campers, but only three of us. We found a
nice flat spot, and got the tent up with only a little drizzle making
us hurry.

The first day, Sunday, was uncommonly dry and warm. Andy caught his
usual three fish and I caught 1. All nice hard fighting and jumping
steelhead. Andy had the big one at 29.5 inches, about 10 pounds, mine
was 27 inches, Andy's small ones were 26 inches. We saw eagles, elk,
and cormorants on the river, but no bear tracks this time. We had the
river to ourselves, all the yahoos were fishing below where the access
is easier.

Monday we got an early start and drifted from the boundary to Spruce
creek, about 4 miles or so. The water was a bit lower than earlier
trips, and the aluminum hatch was on, so it was slim pickings. Even
Andy couldn't find a fish. We finished the drift at 1:00 and decided
we needed to be in the park, above where the guides go. On the hike
2.5 miles up the river we saw one print on the trail that we figure
must have been from a cougar. The river was transformed by the floods
last fall, so we didn't find the holes we'd hoped for, but Andy managed
to pull a nice 27 inch hatchery fish out of a complex pool. The fish
had some sort of tumors on it, so we decided not to keep it to eat.
Dinner was at the China Gate restaurant in Forks. Actually an
excellent Chinese place.

Tuesday we decided to try something new and fish the Queets. We've
both heard about it, but we've never fished it. The rain started about
2:00 AM, so it was pouring while we broke camp at 5:30 and headed over
to the Queets. Steady rain while we inflated the boats, but the river
looked OK, not good, but OK. Andy got one fish to hit his strike
indicator, it was a big one, at least 12 pounds, but he didn't want the
flies. I managed to catch a few white fish, as did Andy, but no
steelhead hooked this day. Half way down the float there was a 6 foot
diameter spruce tree blocking the entire river. It had fallen off the
bank on one side, and the 200 foot long trunk extended a hundred feet
onto the opposite bank. Fortunately the hole left by the root ball was
big enough for us to sneak through, so we didn't have to portage. The
rain continued. The river darkened. We paddled on to the takeout.
After packing the boats into the car in a 40 mile per hour gale with
heavy rain, we got in the car and headed home.

Not so fast. The wind had blown a small fir tree across the road and
blocked our exit. No chain saw, no ax, but I did have a tow chain.
The road is one of those narrow logging roads, and the tree had broken
on the pile of gravel along the far side of the road. I hooked up the
chain and dragged the upper part of the tree down the road. We then
drove off the road, into the foot deep moss of the rain forest floor,
and then back onto the road and home. Sometimes 4wd is real handy.

I'll post some pictures to my website and provide a reply to this with
the links.

Chas
remove fly fish to reply
http://home.comcast.net/~chas.wade/w...ome.html-.html
San Juan Pictures at:
http://home.comcast.net/~chasepike/wsb/index.html