Hiking Olympic National Park
By Erik Molvar

Maple Glade Rainforest Trail

This 0.5-mile trail begins next to the N.P.S. Quinault Ranger Station 
and loops through the lush rainforest bottomlands beside Kastner 
Creek. Coarse gravels have been deposited here during floods, creating 
a well-drained soil that favors the bigleaf maple. Enormous specimens 
of rainforest hardwood grow here, their gnarled branches draped with 
long streamers of spike moss. The maples are interspersed with a few 
graceful old hemlocks and Sitka spruces, while dense groves of red 
alder occupy areas of disturbance by fire or flooding. These bottoms 
serve as winter range for the Roosevelt elk, which mold the forest 
ecosystem by browsing away young trees and shrubs. The result of their 
foraging efforts is a park-like understory of ground-hugging oxalis, 
violets, and buttercups. A self-guiding pamphlet is available at the 
beginning of the trail and offers further insights into rainforest 
ecology.