Olympic National Park (May 27)
Date and Time: May 27, 11:15am
Location: Kalaloch, Jefferson County, WA
Weather: Mostly cloudy about 46 degrees
Air Conditions: Relatively windy, cool, and moist
Soil Conditions: Slightly moist
Olympic National Park is located in the Washington State, in the Olympic Peninsula. The park is large in size that it can be divided into four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side of the Park. The nearest city to this area is Port Angeles. The beach stretches across miles and miles of area and is adjacent to the forest. Although the beach is a huge part of the Olympic National Forest, I will talk about the temperate forest that covers a lot of the land and receives an annual precipitation of about 150 inches. The forests here are mostly populated by coniferous trees, including Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock, Coast Douglas-fir and Western redcedar. There is also an abundance of mosses that coat the bark of many trees and even grow along their branches, anywhere where it's moist. What truly makes this place unique is that this park contains an about 366,000 acres of old-growth forests!
Today, I decided to go on a little hike on one of the trails and to my surprise, I spotted a Common Garter Snake, which quickly slithered right into the brush. The Common Garter Snake is indigenous to North America and most garter snakes are brown or green in color and have yellow stripes, their average length is about 22 inches and a maximum of about 54 inches and weighs about 5.3 ounces. Garter Snakes favor cooler temperatures and seasons. Snakes are scary to me and after seeing this I wondered how poisonous these snakes were and I learned that the saliva of a garter snake may be toxic to amphibians and other small animals, but as for humans their bite is not dangerous, but, it may cause slight itching, burning, and/or swelling. The Common Garter Snake favors habitats near water. Their diet consists mainly of amphibians and earthworms, but also fish, small birds, and rodents. These creatures are very good at camouflage that I once thought the Garter Snake was a twig!
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