If you are visiting the Olympic Peninsula, the Olympic National Park will probably be at the top of your list. Of course going up to Hurricane Ridge is one of those must-do activities in the park. We have been to Hurricane Ridge a few times over the years, but it was time for another visit.
I had looked at the weather forecast and decided that Sunday would be a good day to travel up to Hurricane Ridge. (My daughter thinks I’m too obsessed with the weather). There was no rain in the forecast, but that didn’t mean there were no clouds. We woke up to another cloudy day in the Northwest.
Being optimistic, I figured the clouds would burn off, and we would have a good day so we proceeded to get ready for a day on Hurricane Ridge. However, as we began to climb the 17 miles up to the top of the mountains, my optimism wavered. We entered the clouds, and the fog was very thick. The fog continued to be thick, but I remembered how we climbed above the clouds in Iceland so I held out hope. Finally in the last mile of our climb, the clouds began to thin, and we broke through to blue skies.
We stopped at the Visitor Center on Hurricane Ridge and were able to look out over the mountains. The white clouds filled in the valleys below. It was actually quite beautiful. Being early in the fall, there was very little snow on the tops of the mountains, but the rugged looking mountains created an interesting contrast with the fluffy white clouds below. It was actually a sort of reversal to what we usually think of when looking at mountains.
One of our goals for this visit was to hike somewhere. On our previous visit seven years ago we had hiked a trail right around the Visitor Center. In looking over the trail options this time, we settled on a trail that went up an area called Hurricane Hill. The trailhead was a couple of miles past the Visitor Center. The sad thing is I hadn’t even realized the road continued on. I thought it ended at the Visitor Center.
So we drove out to the actual end of the road and were lucky enough to find a parking spot. I thought the trail would be a dirt trail. However, it turned out to be paved all the way to the top. The information was that the trail was 1.6 miles so it seemed it would be a fairly easy trek. It did become quite steep, however, especially at the end, so it wasn’t as easy as I originally thought. Fortunately I had decided to take my trekking poles, and they helped with the steep sections.
The initial part of the trail was fairly easy. We continued to have a view out over the clouds and the Olympic Mountains, but after a short walk we were also able to see the other side of the mountain and the pockets of fog in those areas. There were also a few spots of autumn color here and there.
As the trail began to get a little more steep, I found myself taking it step by step. We stopped at various places to take in the view and catch our breath. The last half mile or so was quite steep, but we finally made it all the way to the top. We could look back over the trail that we had just hiked and see how far up we actually were. From the top we were able to look over to the other side of the mountain. On a clear day, we would have been able to see the Strait of Juan de Fuca and perhaps all the way to Canada’s Vancouver Island, but today we just saw clouds. However there were some mountains peeking through the clouds that were quite mysterious looking. It was really a great scene, and I didn’t miss seeing the water.
We wandered around a little at the top and saw some deer at a distance before beginning our descent. There was a trail that went off to the right a little ways down from the top. It was a six mile trail to the Elwha River. We walked it for a short distance to see what was on the other side of the field, but then we returned back to the main trail. We were planning to visit the Elwha area, but hiking to it was not part of the agenda.
The trip down wasn’t too bad. It was interesting to see how in places the clouds had changed some, but they had not disappeared. A couple of times on the way down I tried to encourage some hikers who looked like they were about to give up on the trail. I assured them that if we could do it, they could do it.
At the busy parking lot, we were immediately asked if we were leaving so we quickly threw our stuff in the car and left. We drove about a mile down to another parking area and parked there to get out some food to eat. After gaining a bit of energy, we drove on down the mountain. We had to go through the clouds again, and it didn’t seem to be any thinner than it had been on our drive up. There were times when I could barely see a car’s length ahead of me, but we made it down safely.
Our next stop for the day was a waterfall at Madison Creek which is near the Elwha River. I wanted to explore this area as the Elwha River made the news a number of years ago. The government had removed a long standing dam and returned the river to its natural state. I wanted to note the changes. Unfortunately the main road was washed out, and the Madison Creek Falls was as far as we could go.
The parking lot for the falls hike is next to the Elwha River. The hike to the falls is short, about a tenth of a mile. It’s a pretty falls, quite tall actually. However it didn’t take that long to visit it. There was a stand of oak trees nearby whose leaves were just turning colors. I enjoying taking photos of them. I also stopped along the Elwha River to grab some photos. What fascinated me about the river was its color. When the water was still, it had an aqua green color to it. It was quite unusual.
Since we couldn’t travel farther up the river, we returned to Port Angeles. We had some ice cream and walked around the waterfront a little bit before returning to out motel for the evening. The sun was breaking through in some areas, but the sky was still mostly cloudy. We hoped that tomorrow would bring us bluer skies.
Have you done any hiking around Hurricane Ridge? I’d love to hear about other hikes there or hikes near the Elwha River. The comment box awaits your input as do I. Also be sure to sign up to receive the weekly post directly in your email if you haven’t done so already. Five more posts on our Olympic Peninsula trip are still to come.