Krummholz at the Shore

We began on the Schooner Cove Trail, a popular hike consisting of a scenic series of boardwalks, stairways and ramps that led us through a lush mossy rainforest. As we traveled through the rainforest the sounds of the ocean booming were hard to miss. We were led out onto the beach where we could catch glimpses of the village of Esowista, belonging to the Tla-o-qui-aht, who have lived along this shore for centuries.

Impressive tree.

Traveling the boardwalk through the rainforest. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and find Frederick.)

At high tide these rocks are submerged. Perhaps you can see the tide line on the adjacent rocks.

Next we took the Rainforest Trail through a mossy, old growth, rainforest with interpretive signs to guide and educate. 

Most of the way we traveled along a boardwalk.

Gigantic western red cedar and western hemlock reach up to the sunlight, their boughs thickly carpeted with hanging gardens of moss. 

Meet Wilma and Hank, from the Netherlands. It was a pleasure to chat with them as we passed in the parking lot for the Rainforest Trail. It turns out they are staying in the Crystal Cove RV Resort, as are we. We loved hearing about their travels to Japan and China.

Finally, we ended the day on the Combers Beach Trail which led from the parking lot, through a sitka spruce forest, down to Combers Beach.

We've written about "krummholz"before - "krummholz" is German for "crooked wood", a tree form

created when windborne salt, sand or snow kills branch buds, stunting growth. Common in windy seashore and subalpine environments. We knew about krummholz in subalpine environments but today we experienced the windy seashore type, above.

Access to this beach is dependent on tides so it was good that we were at low tide.