Saturday, May 9, 2009

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park





Hurricane Ridge is a mere 17 miles from Port Angeles, WA. In Port Angeles, while the morning was cool--in the low 50s, spring was evident everywhere. We saw lawns being mowed and flowers in great abundance. While winters are mild at lower elevation, with temps in the 30s and 40s, snowfall can be heavy in the mountains, with snow accumula- tions of up to 10 feet common.

At Hurricane Ridge, it was very clearly still winter! The elevation at the top of Hurricane Ridge is 5400 feet. The temperature at the top on the day we visited was 25 degrees. We drove over stretches of icy road. But the scenery was awesome!

A shifting morning fog provided great photo opportunities. In the first picture, the mountain above the fog is directly west of Hurricane Ridge. It is pretty easy to understand why the only other people on the mountain while we were there was a group of photographers. The building in the last picture is the ranger station at the top. One of the vehicles parked in the driveway was a very large snowblower. 

 

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