VIDEO: Hiking the Hoh River Trail of Olympic National Park, WA

An enchanting temperate rainforest in Washington state full of meanderable mossy magic? I can't even begin to describe how fascinating this place was...

Behold the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park, "one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rainforest in the United States" and one of the park's most popular destinations [NPS].

When we visited the Hoh, we traveled along 4 miles of the luscious Hoh River Trail, a 17.4 mile route that follows the gentle curve of the Hoh River all the way to the base of 9,573' Mount Olympus.

If you want to backpack this trail, you'll need to obtain a permit at either the Wilderness Information Center in Port Angeles, or the lesser-known but more reasonable option of the Hoh Visitor Center.

Since we had just returned from backpacking the coast, we did a day hike of this trail and car-camped at the nearby Hoh Campground; a first-come, first-served campground up against the Hoh River...not too shabby! The BONUS? While the summer is generally Olympic's dry season, we "lucked out" and got to truly experience the rainforest, with downpours abounding! Observe Marek's enthusiasm below:

I mean, I would expect no less from a place that receives a yearly total of 140 to 170 inches (or 12 to 14 feet) of precipitation each year [NPS]! How else would you get an amazingly lush canapy of deciduous and coniferous trees as well as a literal blanket of mosses and ferns across every surface? All of this brings the enchantment factor up to 11, my friends, there's no doubt about it.

For a firsthand look at this wondrous place, take a gander a the video below, and keep an eye out for Banana Slugs!