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Ocean. Alpine ridges. Rainforests. All in one park. Hi, I’m Ranger Kathryn,

and we’re at a rainforest in Olympic National Park. I’m here to help answer some top-trending questions about national parks and the great outdoors. Let’s hit the trail. The oldest national park is Yellowstone National Park, which was designated in 1872.

However, the trees in forests of Olympic National Park can be several hundred years old, and even upwards of 500 years old, which is older than the creation of the Park Service and even older than the United States. Something that’s really unique about

old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest is that decay happens really slowly out here. So because that decay happens slowly, that is providing a slow release of nutrients, which allows our forest floors to be covered in vegetation. Here we have found a ghost pipe plant.

It’s parasitic, so it’s not photosynthesizing. It’s leaching materials and nutrients from other plants surrounding it. A really awesome find in the forest. In the temperate rainforest of Olympic National Park, moss can really grow anywhere.

If it has the right environment and has what it needs, it’s going to be able to climb and grow all over our trees, just like the big leaf maple here. Tidepooling is when you’re going out

to explore all of those rocks and pools that are left behind when the tide goes out. Hopefully you get a chance to see some of these amazing animals that we see here today, like sea stars, sea anemones, barnacles, mussels, and maybe, if you’re lucky, even an octopus.

The best time to see animals in the low tide is anywhere below a one-foot tide. When you come across a negative tide, that’s going to be extremely good tidepooling opportunities.