Day is night today in the rainforest

Photo through my motorhome's window.

HOH RAINFOREST, Wash. -- It's nearly 9 a.m., but you would not know it by looking out the window. You'd think day was just breaking. It's raining, but not just that, it's snowing -- mixed in but not sticking. The wind is blowing the rain and snow sideways.

The clouds must be thick. I have never seen a day so dark because of clouds. And I mean it's dark! Really dark. Almost like night. Yesterday at this time the sun was out. It was gorgeous. Today is ugly. I think this is more typical. In a normal year about 12 to 14 feet of rain falls here in a year -- that's feet, not inches. If you want inches, then that translates to 144 to 168. Compare that with Seattle where about 38 inches falls a year.

Right across the Olympic mountains, northeast of here, only 10 inches of rain falls annually in Sequim, a virtual sunbelt here in the Northwest. The Hoh hogs the rain. And what it misses, the magnificent Olympic mountains pick up as snow.

I'm headed south today on U.S. 101 through more wet landscape. For awhile, the road is right along the gorgeous Washington coastline. I'm not sure where I will end up. But very likely rain will be my companion.

NOTES FROM THE HOH CAMPGROUND: I have been here two nights. The first night there were two tents plus me. Last night there was one tent plus a single guy who slept in his car. A lot of people come here with tents to get rained on. Two days ago at the Pacific Inn in Forks, owners Jim and Laura Decker told me they get a lot of Hoh campers as guests. "They come here to dry out," said Laura.

In the two days I have been here I have not seen a National Park employee or ranger. There is nobody at the park kiosk along the entry road. A sign instructs "Pay at Visitor Center." No problem. But then you get to the visitor center and it's closed -- open only three days a week. I wonder how much revenue the park lost in the couple of days I have been here. There has been a constant flow of traffic in and out of the visitor center parking lot. Everywhere you go these days, park services at all levels of government are compromised. It's sad.

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