Written May 2019
Day 3
After the sounds of the bear calls ended, and we got over the fear of having left any food outside, we slept pretty well the rest of the night, and awoke well rested to take on our final day of the trip. We saved a couple marshmellows from last night, so that we could make our famous breakfast pancake s’mores! 🙂 They were just as delicious as the first time we invented them! Along with these, we also had some ramen to help fill us up for the day…which we did plenty of!
Breakfast Pancake S’mores
After we finished breakfast and packed up all of our stuff, we started to make our way out to Hurricane Ridge, but decided to take in one more view of Crescent Lake, but from the Fairholm side this time around. It was a beautiful morning, and a good sign of the day to come!
Lake Crescent from the Fairholm side
On the way to Hurricane Ridge, we figured it would be a good idea to stop at Port Angeles for some gas and a lunch to pack for our hike later on. While we were there though, we took a quick stop at the port itself and looked out at the Salish Sea from an overlook tower. Driving down to the port, we passed by a place called Num Num Donuts that piqued our interest, so we decided to pick up a couple donuts from there for a small tasty mid-morning snack! After filling up our tank, and stopping by a grocery store for our lunch, we were ready to drive up the mountain to Hurricane Ridge!
Port Angeles
It was about a 15 mile drive up the windy mountain road to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. As we got higher and higher, the views kept getting nicer and nicer, as we could see the snow-capped Olympic Mountain range from closer and closer.
Driving up to Hurricane Ridge
When we reached the Visitor Center at the top, it took us a little while to figure out how to make the hike out to Hurricane Hill. After a little deliberation though, we saw that we actually needed to walk about 1.5 miles on down a paved road, to make it to the base of the hill…and then from there, walk further up to get to the peak of the hill itself. From everything I had read earlier, I had thought in total it was just about 1.5 miles one-way.
What was nice though (for now at least) was that it was mostly downhill on the paved road, so we actually ran down to this section to save us some time. The walked on the uphills, and stopped for the beautiful expansive views along the way as well. The road was lined with snow and evergreen trees as well, which made for a nice wintery experience, without the hassle of trudging through snow.
Road to Hurricane Hill
We eventually made our way to the base of the hill, which was a small parking area…but from here, didn’t really have any idea of where to go. Again, after some deliberation, we noticed some footsteps in the snow, and followed them out, until we could see the path lead upwards, and some people walking back. We were on the right path! We reached a spot where we were able to get a great 360 degree panoramic view of the area, and decided that this was as far as we needed to go. It was still probably at least another mile to go to get to the peak, and from the looks of it, the trail was narrow and snow-filled, so we didn’t feel the need to go further.
Views from Hurricane Hills
After we captured as much of the landscape from our phones as possible, we made our way back down the trail, and now climbing back up the paved road, back to the visitor center. It was wasn’t too bad…and with some miscalculation on my part, wound up being shorter than I estimated as we were walking back! We were getting pretty hungry though…so were excited for the lunch that awaited us in the car…
Super Saver Foods Fried Chicken!
Once our bellies were nice and full, we checked out the Visitor Center for a little, took a couple more shots of the mountain range, and then decided to start making the long trip back home.
Visitor Center
So overall, another successful trip, with a lot of variety (and a lot of driving) for a single national park and just about 2 full days of touring around. More importantly though, just a great weekend away together to refresh and relax!
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The Dating Life of Norina and Jonathan 