Hurricane Ridge

Thursday
Hurricane Ridge was our main destination for today. Together with the Hoh Rain Forest, these are the two most visited areas in Olympic National Park, much of it being wilderness. It was an 18 mile drive south from Port Angeles where we were staying, with wonderful views all the way up. Unfortunately, it was a rather overcast day today, but it was dry and the visibility was still quite good. From the visitor centre and car park, there is a paved trail, climbing 700 ft over 1.6 miles to the summit, where it was extremely windy, and by now, the weather was beginning to close in a bit, so we didn’t hang out long up there! We stopped for our late picnic at one of the viewpoints on the way down, then continued to our second stop at Madison Falls, southwest of Port Angeles, just a short hike to see this one.