Hurricane Ridge

Anna, Pierce, and I drove to Hurricane Ridge yesterday in Olympic National Park. We left Kirkland at around 7:20AM and caught the ferry in Edmonds for Kingston on the Olympic Peninsula.

On Puget Sound approaching Kingston on the ferry from Edmonds

 From Kingston, we drove on to Port Angeles where we turned left and drove into the Olympic mountains and up to Hurricane Ridge at an elevation of over 5242 feet (1598 meters).  We parked at the visitor center, snacked on some junk food, and wandered around a bit admiring the views.

Mount Olympus (the snow-capped mountain at center right) from the Visitor Center

Looking south from the Visitor Center

 We hiked through alpine meadows up a small ridge to the north and found some great views as well as lots of butterflies.

Looking northwest from the Cirque Rim Trail. Hurricane Hill on the left. Port Angeles is at the bottom of the mountain, Victoria B.C. is across the Strait.

View from the Cirque Rim Trail - Hurricane Hill

Anna and Pierce with the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the background

Anise Swallowtail butterfly

Edith's Checkerspot Butterfly

 We went back to the Visitor Center for a few more pictures:

Looking Southeast from the Visitor Center

 Next on the agenda was to hike up Hurricane Hill. We got back in the car and headed up the Hurricane Hill Road to park in Picnic Area B where we had a relaxing lunch among the pines before starting up the trail.

Hiking up Hurricane Hill

The trail is partially paved and, although the elevation gain is only about 700 feet (213 meters), in places it is quite steep. We were surprised to see people who looked very out of shape going up and down this hill.

When we got to the top, the view was really not much better than from the Cirque Rim Trail near the Visitor Center. It was a good workout though.

The view from the top of Hurricane Hill looking north. A forest fire a few years ago burned this mountainside.

So, another day, another glorious hike in the Great Northwest.

We got back in the Sube and drove down the mountain to Port Angeles in search of a Dairy Queen I had patronized a few years ago after a Lake Crescent hike. As Jane Austen so wisely wrote, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a post-hike milkshake on a warm day is one of those things that make life worth living. Truth indeed.

This particular DQ, however threw us a few curves. I have no desire to impugn those who work in crappy jobs for minimum wage, but the guy behind the counter was quite an enigma. I ordered first, asking for a small chocolate malt. He seemed a bit confused at first but perhaps couldn't hear me clearly (not unusual). We got that cleared up and Anna ordered a small banana milkshake. He asked her "Is medium OK?" to which she asked "Can't I have a small?" His reply "Sure you can" had us looking at each other with comical looks on our faces. Then Pierce ordered a cheeseburger with small fries, confusing our server no end because fries come only in medium and large! We managed to get this issue straightened out only to have the young woman making Anna's milk shake ask her "Do you want real bananas in your shake or banana powder?" BANANA POWDER? What is that and why would anyone want it? We eventually got what we ordered (it was delicious) but left dazed and confused and with so many unanswered questions.

Exhausted by the DQ ordeal, yet refreshed by our purchases, we got on highway 101 and headed for the Edmonds ferry and home. Unfortunately, an accident had traffic stopped a couple of miles west of Port Gamble and we sat motionless for half an hour slowly roasting in the heat. We got past the accident only to find that the Hood Canal floating bridge was open, stopping traffic yet again.  A sign helpfully pointed out that the wait could be up to 60 minutes long. Another sign we crawled past informed us that the wait for a ferry in Kingston was about 2 hours. By this time our good hiking feelings were starting to get baked out of us even as we tried to keep up our spirits with banana powder jokes.

As it turned out though, the bridge wait wasn't too bad and the ferry wait was only half an hour. So we arrived home with our collective sanity more or less intact.