Whether coating the forest floor, or cloaking tree trunks, the abundance of moss alongside the Pu’u O’o Trail, off Saddle Road, always reminds me of the Pacific Northwest, where I lived for 30 years, before moving to Hawaii.
Moss
Graham's Island
Life on the Big Island of Hawaii
Graham's Island 
That’s a lot!
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It’s up around 6,000 feet and gets a fair amount of moisture, so good conditions for it.
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Nothing better than a good mossy photo
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Thanks Brian.
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I had to look up where the Pacific Northwest was and now I fully understand. I guess you’re warmer now? But it seems there’s still plenty of rain.
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I get more than twice the rain here than I used to in Washington State, where I lived in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. The skies though were still mostly gray through the winter. Here, it rains and then the sun comes out and it’s nice and warm!
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I was thinking exactly that when I first saw your pictures. I remember reading somewhere that the location of moss (or lichen?) on a tree indicated a compass position. Do you know? Just in case I get lost in a forest?
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Hi Sandy. I’ve looked it up and in the northern hemisphere the heaviest moss growth will be on the north side of a tree and here in the south it will be the south – the side that gets the least sun. Thanks for that interesting diversion.
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Thanks for looking it up. It makes sense if I remember that more moss where there’s least sun. Of course, I didn’t occur to me that it’d be different in the southern hemisphere. Shows that I shouldn’t be wandering around in forests by myself!
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Thanks for that Karen. I’ll try to see if that holds true next time I’m up there.
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Good thing Karen answered this because I didn’t know!
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