Hurricane Ridge - Olympic National Park

Panorama from Hurricane Ridge

We awoke at the Port Angeles Super 8 around 5 am. We did a few things in the room, checked emails and did some reading. Rather than our usual breakfast, we had the leftover Chinese food from last night. Our meals were just as good this morning as they were yesterday evening.

View from Hurricane Ridge

We drove to the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park. It took nearly an hour to drive the 17 miles to the visitor center at the top. When I was there in July 2007, there was so much fog that seeing beyond a few feet was impossible. Today was very different with no fog and bright, warming morning sun. We stopped to take photos at several areas on the narrow winding road up the mountain rising to over 5000 feet. I was chuckling to myself along the drive thinking about the 2007 trip when I was driving a huge Ford Excursion filled with friends from Cabell County. It was an unpleasant surprise then the SUV’s power steering went out on Hurricane Ridge Road. Although we don’t like the Ford Fusion that we rented on this trip, it performed well on the drive up the mountain.

Chipmunk along Hurricane Hill Trail

Since we arrived at the top of the mountain a little after 9 am, the visitor center wouldn’t open for another hour. We drove 1.5 miles past the visitor center to the Hurricane Hill trailhead. This 1.6-mile trail rises over 700 feet to the summit of Hurricane Hill. The path was nicely paved and made walking pleasant . I did not recall this trail when I was here 13 years ago but since learned that it had recently been upgraded and reopened just two months ago. The views were great at every step on the trail, and we took a lot of photos. We chatted with a few other hikers on the trail and made it to the top a little after 10 pm. We took some pictures from the top and started back down for another hour walk.

After returning from our hike, we left the trailhead parking around 11 and stopped briefly at the visitor center for a National Park stamp We made it to the bottom of the mountain before noon and drove to the Dungeness National Wildlife Reserve where we had lunch at picnic table overlooking the Juan De Fuca Strait. Since we had dinner leftovers for breakfast, we decided to have our breakfast food for dinner. Our yogurt and raisin bran made was as good for lunch as it is for breakfast.

Our next stop was the town of Sequim. The town is famous for their huge lavender farms, so we stopped and picked up a few lavender gifts for friends and family. When I was here in July 2007 with the Cabell County group, we spent a day photographing the lavender fields. However, the lavender had all been harvested this year, so we settled on buying dried lavender for our gifts.

Elk at Dosewallips State Park

We continued on Highway 101 toward the Cushman Staircase area of Olympic National Park. While driving, Mary spotted a large herd of elk near Dosewallips State Park. We turned around and drove back to see them. The elk were grazing among the cabins and campers at the state park, ignoring the campers and those, like us, who were there to watch and take photos. We couldn't estimate the number of animals because they were spread around the buildings and campers. There were at least 50 elk.

Stream on the Staircase Trail

We drove to the Cushman-Staircase area of the Olympic National Park and took the 2.1 mile Staircase Rapids loop trail from the ranger station through the forest with little change in elevation. The trail was a well-maintained gravel path winding through spruce, red cedar and hemlock trees. We were back at the rental car in a little over an hour. We left for our hotel in Lacey, Washington, a suburb of Olympia, the state’s capital.

We checked in at the Lacey LaQuinta easily and got a very nice suite. The room was very clean and comfortable. We later learned that we were given this larger room in error, but we were charged only for the smaller room that we reserved.

We didn’t want a huge meal, so we went to the Denny’s across the street. Because of traffic patterns, walking there was impractical, and driving was complicated. We both got the grilled salmon which was very good and reasonably priced.

Panorama from Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center