Photos: Contrasting forests

Throughout the Hoh Rain Forest, trees are overcome with moss, often from the ground all the way to their tops.

A moss-covered branch extends over a creek in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park in Washington.

Moss is so abundant in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park that clumps of it sometimes fall from tree branches.

The moss dripping down from trees makes some forest settings seem fantastical, like something from a Tolkien story.

The Oregon and Washington coasts are pockmarked with miles of clear-cut forest. Clear-cutting leaves the land looking like it has been hit by a hurricane.

While the clear-cutting is often hidden away or hard to see, it is sometimes directly visible from Highway 101.

Because of heavy annual rainfall, high humidity, deep and well-draining soil and mild temperatures, the trees in the Hoh Rain Forest are among the tallest of their species in the world.