July 20 and another beautiful day and we were off once again! We left Port Townsend and headed to Port Angeles, from there we would head to Olympic National Park and Hurricane Ridge.
The Olympic Peninsula of Washington, dominated by tortuous terrain and surrounded on three sides by water, has stood in isolation for millennia. As eons passed, it developed its own special character preserved today in the Park.
The park is a genuine wilderness, and much of it can only be reached on foot. Back country travel is made easier and sager by six hundred miles of trails. You could hike these trails for two solid months and always be seeing new country!
The Olympics were set aside as a national monument in 1909 and further protected as Olympic National Park in 1938.
The Olympic National Park protects the largest old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. Its unique character begins with ancient trees that took root 200 to 1,000 years ago. Differences in moisture (from 40 to 240 inched annually) and changes in elevation (from sea-level to 7,980 feet) create a mosaic of forests in the park.
A world of landscapes unfold here: glaciers chisel U-shaped valleys, and brilliantly colored wildflowers blank sub alpine meadows.
We headed up to Hurricane Ridge with the top down on the car and it gave up sights to behold! When I asked why it was called Hurricane Ridge the Ranger said "why do you think?" I knew that they did not have hurricanes in this part of the world so I thought it must be because of the high winds.... and I was right. The ranger said that in the winter the winds can reach as high as s very strong hurricane, thus the name. The scenery was once again specular!!!! In every direction it was beautiful. We did climb some trail and it was well worth the hike. The photos here really do not do the park justice.
We only had the one day to explore and there is so much more to see. Maybe someday we will get back here and explore some more. Below are some more photos as the blog will only allow me to put four photos here.
On our way back down the mountain, we just missed a landslide, there was rocks in the road and the hill still had the dust from the slide. The bottom photo shows the dust still in the air. We did not stay there too long as we thought more much be coming down the hill. Signs of an ever changing world.We are off to Anacortes to meet up with our friends for a month of fun and laughter. We are going to take the coach on the ferry across to Whidbey Island.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Love, Candy and Johnny
There are several more photos below in the next blog......
