The Soos Creek Rain Forest?

This has been a very mossy year in our area.  I don't think it's just me--Like suddenly I noticed the  existence of moss.  No, everywhere I look there seems to be way more moss than usual.


There are areas in our parking lot at work where there is moss growing on the painted line between where the cars park.  While it's not unusual to see green growing on asphalt (especially here in Western Washington) it seems odd to me to see it growing with thickness to it.  And it's not even the north side of the building--It's just an area that always has cars parked on it to hamper the sun.

Winding our way up the Auburn-Black Diamond Road to our home here we pass through an area that just seems alive with trees encrusted with thick coats of moss.  Most of them have ferns growing out of their thick moss coat even as far up as the topmost branches.  When the light hits those areas just right, it is a very beautiful, rich emerald green. It's like we are driving in a rain forest!  I've only been in one rain forest in my life, and that's our Hoh Rain Forest over in the northwest corner of our state.  I was telling Suzie how we should start calling this a rain forest, and she suggested the Soos Creek Rain Forest.  (Soos Creek runs through the valley and is the reason for the salmon hatchery near us.)

Pictures don't do moss justice, nor are they easy to get.  Moss wreaks havoc on a camera's ability to focus because of the lack of surface to focus on.  Ever try to get a sharp picture of shag carpet?  (Okay, who even has shag carpet...)  Good lighting in pictures with moss-covered trees is also very hard to get.  Out of reach by the flash on most cameras, shots of moss in trees usually come out as darkish outlines with lit sky behind them.

Me and Suz tried to take some pictures of some of the trees in our "Soos Creek Rain Forest" a couple of weeks ago, but we were severely limited by the factors I just outlined as well as the location--Most of the best trees are along the highway with no place to walk or take pictures from.  We wandered along the guardrail (on the safe side of it) like homeless searchers of recyclable cans and bottles.  We did get a few pictures that day, and I've scattered a few of the barely acceptable ones throughout this blog post.  You can click on them to see them bigger, and maybe you can get a bit of an idea of how "green" our state is this year.

Moss:  Nature's carpet!