Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Hurricane Ridge – A look at the Olympic Mountains
I’ve showed you many pictures from our various travels in Olympic National Park – the forests – the lakes and the rugged beaches – all are wonderful.
But I haven’t showed you much of Hurricane Ridge even though it’s probably the most visited place in the park. Seattle residents often bring their out of town guests here making it a long but enjoyable day trip. And for good reason – Hurricane Ridge is the best place I know to get a close-up of the Olympic Mountains.
We like to stop on our way home from excursions deeper in the park as we did a few weeks ago. Honestly, the best views are cheap – no hiking required. Just make the 17 mile drive from Port Angeles to the Visitors Center and you’re surrounded by mountains, meadows, flowers and wildlife!
Of course you can always take one of many hikes in the area. We chose a shorter one which took us on a loop through meadows and onto a ridge
overlooking the Straight of Juan de Fuca – the outlet of the Salish Sea to the Pacific Ocean, part of the international border with Canada. During normal – pre-covid – times you could easily board the ferry in Port Angeles for a fun day in the charming city of Victoria, capital of British Columbia, seen in the distance. Hoping to do that again next year!
It was an easy trail and we had more wildlife sightings and lots of wildflowers
before we were back to where we started.
My husband led the way while I lagged behind taking pictures, including this one of him.
It was a wonderful conclusion to our time in Olympic National Park.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Susanne: Thanks for sharing these images 🙂 Memories of when I was there in ’65 ~Willy
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Wow, it’s so incredibly beautiful there! ❤️❤️
It really is! Funny that I neglected posting about it much before, but there are so many beautiful places in the park! 🙂
Such gorgeous scenery. Hubby and I visited on a motorcycle. So much fun.
Yes, indeed! And what fun to visit on a motorcycle! 🙂
Certainly one of the most pristine and beautiful places in the world! Terrific photos
Thanks John! Olympic National Park is truly special and Hurricane Ridge is the crown jewel!
Wonderful photos. It’s a great area for views and hiking and in the winter it’s also possible to do a bit of cross country skiing here.
Thanks. I didn’t know it stayed open in winter. Must be fabulous with all the snow!
It closes from time to time, but generally they try and keep the road open. There aren’t groomed trails but one can cross country ski along the ridge. There’s also a tubing slope and even a little powered ski rope to take downhill skiers to the top of a fairly short run.
Thanks for the info!
We loved it up there! Not only were the views wonderful, their was fresh and lovely too 😊
Yes, wonderful mountain fresh air!
More jigsaw puzzle worthy photos! All that blue would make a challenging one! Your photos never cease to amaze me!😊
Thanks so much! It’s such a beautiful place!! 😊😊
Moving to Kingston soon. Can’t wait to be close to such a fantastic park!
Wonderful! You’ll love it!!
So beautiful! It brings back good memories when I visited the park several years ago.
Thanks so much! Glad to bring you some good memories! 😊
Aha! It looks like I’ve found a blog i need to look through much more carefully in the coming months. I am moving to Washington this fall to be near family due to health reasons. I have a great wanderlust and am always looking for new places to visit. There should be plenty for me in Washington—and I hope to find reference to them in your blog. Hurricane Ridge is the first I’ll add to my check list. Thanks!
Welcome to Washington! You will love it!! But .. about the weather … 😉