Hurricane Ridge

(August 2009) On a cloudy and overcast day we headed out from Port Angeles for the 17 mile drive to Hurricane Ridge. Following a winding but well maintained road we leave sea level and end up at 5,200 feet elevation. A stunning 360* view awaits us at the Summit. Hurricane Ridge is part of the Olympic Mountains range and offers views of high meadows, wild life, wild flowers and the distant high peaks including Mt Olympus and Mt Angeles. Hurricane Ridge was so named for it’s sometimes intensive gales and winds. As we were driving higher into the clouds Bob kept saying, “I think we picked the wrong day to come up here~we won’t see a thing.” The fog /clouds were so thick. But I kept saying, “ I bet when we get to the top we’ll be above all this.” Well, I was right…..as we rounded the last big curve, heading for the parking lot….we were indeed above all the fog/clouds.

And it was beautiful! We always love to come to Hurricane Ridge and we’ve never been there when the weather was absolutely dreadful (maybe that’s why we keep going back.)

On a clear day you can see the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island, British Columbia from the vantage point below.

Hurricane Ridge has a fabulous Visitor’s Center for the 3 million or so visitors each year. It contains an interpretive center, theater, gift shop, restrooms, first aide station and snack bar. Even the views from inside the Center are breath taking. From the Visitor’s Center parking lot there are many paved meadow trails that lead off to various hiking trails. Along the trails are benches where one can sit and just take in the ever changing views. On this day the clouds lay in the valley below us when we first got there. They were swirling and blowing and by the time we left several hours later came swirling down over us as we sat on a bench on the other side of the parking lot watching a group of marmots playing in the meadow below us. This area is also home to black bear (we didn’t see any) and black tail deer (we saw lots of those).

A sweet little doe, Bob figured I was perhaps 15 feet from her. She would look up from time to time but then just keep on eating.

We walked on by her to enjoy more views of this lovely area. Below you can see the ski tow that operates during the winter months for skiers.

There is a trail that goes out to the rise in the background and there were people out there strolling along. My knee would not have taken that trail so we skipped it this visit.

Heading back to the Visitor’s Center we came upon the doe we had seen earlier or maybe another one….still eating and completely oblivious to the crowds of people snapping pictures of her.

We crossed the parking lot and just sat there for about an hour, taking in the beauty. An older couple came along and sat down, sharing our bench. They were from Germany…traveling around the United States in a rented motor home. We had a lovely conversation with them and they both said that the sights of Hurricane Ridge reminded them of the Swiss Alps.

The clouds came sweeping over us as we walked to the truck and headed back down to Port Angeles. It was an exhilarating day.

Come back for the next installment; Cape Flattery