Remember the fairy tale books set in the alpine meadows where Heidi romped? Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park reminds me of the illustrations in those books, lots of purple flowers (lupine?) and miles of meadows looking like manicured lawn. (Not surprised the grass is short—black tailed deer are grazing everywhere.) If I visit the Alps someday my fairy tale comparison will be a bit more accurate, but for now the closest I can get to Heidi-Land is the high areas of the Olympic National Park. I am sure the European mountain vistas are just as beautiful, but one thing the Alps do not have is the magnificent view of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Canadian island of Vancouver and the City of Victoria in the distance. All enjoyed today from the viewpoints at Hurricane Ridge on a perfect, cloudless day.
Taking pictures of the Straits is really difficult at mid-day. The sky and water seem to blend together—the misty blues are almost the same hue. Looking east, Mount Baker in the Cascade Mountain range floats on the clouds.
And surprisingly, there is still snow in patches on the trails. We did a little scouting on the hiking trails in the area, but decided to get an earlier start on another day. Hopefully, the snow will clear away by the time we make it back.
Hurricane Ridge is only 30 miles from our starting point in Sequim. Easy drive back to enjoy a full day of hiking. In fact, we are finding lots of trails on the Peninsula near Sequim. It will take us a long time to investigate each one. Fully exploring all of the Olympic National Park will take a while too, we still need to visit the rainforest, the ocean beaches and lakes all part of this large national park.
Absolutely beautiful!
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