Common name of this moss is "pipe cleaner" moss. This is the first time I have seen it dry and it does look more like a pipe cleaner when it is dry. This moss is found above 1,000 feet in the Olympic and the mats get more and more lush as the elvation increases up to a certain point.
This was at 3,800 feet. Rhytidiopsis likes to grow above 2,000 feet. There was quite a lot of it up here.
I believe it is a kind of moss, but maybe it's too big to be a moss. This one really baffles me.
At about 1,500 feet this stuff starts to show up on the North Fork Skokomish trail.
I think this is the robust variety of moss that grows at higher elevations. I first noticed it at 1,000 feet and the higher I went the more of it I saw.
This picture was taken at 1,800 feet near the north end of Lower Lena Lake in the Olympic National Forest.
It rained and snowed all day long but I was able to stay nice and warm thanks to some glowing coals that had been left behind by some campers.
