During Week 10, we headed out to the northern half of the Olympic Peninsula to conduct searches for Pseudocyphellaria rainierensis on the Hoh and Sol Duc rivers within the boundaries of Olympic National Park. Both searches were successful, but required extensive hiking. Our first stop was the Hoh River Trail which follows the Hoh River in through temperate rainforest famous for its old growth dripping with bryophytes and lycophytes, such as Isothecium stoloniferum and Selaginella oregana. After driving up from Olympia we hiked three miles to our camp at Mount Tom Creek where we conducted opportunistic searches for P. rainierensis along the river and at Mineral Creek Falls. The following day we hiked the remaining seven miles to a previously known site at the junction of the Hoh River Trail and Hoh Lake Trail. There we were able to relocate a population of the species and collect 10 tissue samples for population genetic analyses. The old blue was found growing in association with a substantial population of the cyanolichen Sticta weigelli. We hiked the entire ten miles back out to the Hoh River trailhead and made our way to Third Beach near Forks, WA. On Third Beach, we stayed up to watch the ocean waves illuminated by a species of the bioluminescent algae in genus Noctiluca and woke to a thick layer of coastal fog. The next day we headed east for the Sol Duc River. We visited two previously known sites along Sol Duc Hot Springs Road both of which showed no sign of “Old Blue”. We proceeded to hike to a previously known site at the confluence of the Sol Duc River and Seven Lakes Creek a little more than 3 miles southeast down the Sol Duc River Trail. There we found a sprawling population of P. rainierensis and were able to collect another 10 samples for our population genetic analyses. Those populations on the Hoh and Sol Duc rivers represent the northern most collections of the species on the Olympic Peninsula, and in addition to helping us round out our sampling scheme on the peninsula, they may provide valuable insight into the influence of National Parks on the population genetic structure of P. rainierensis.

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A. Undergraduate student Silas Cranmer collects tissue at a site on the Hoh River in Olympic National Park. B. Sticta weigelii growing on Alnus rubra along the Hoh River in Olympic National Park near Forks, WA C. Pseudocyphellaria rainierensis growing on Alnus rubra along the Hoh River in Olympic National Park near Forks, WA. D. Evergreen alumna Franny Waldear records element occurrence data at the tissue collection site on the Hoh River in Olympic National Park. E-F. Pseudocyphellaria rainierensis growing on Abies amabilis at the confluence of Seven Lakes Creek and the Sol Duc River in Olympic National Park near Port Angeles, WA. G. Silas Cranmer walking up downed log to get back on trail as Franny Waldear records element occurrence data at the tissue collection site on the Sol Duc River in Olympic National Park. (All photos by S. Sharrett)