Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge - Lake Crescent

August 16, Friday

 

        Our flight left at 230PM and arrived in Seattle around 430PM.   We got our car and headed for Port Angeles (approx. 3 hour drive).   We stopped for a quick bite and traffic was busy at that time, we arrived in Port Angeles approx. 900PM.

 

August 17, Saturday

 

           We were up early, since we are still on Minnesota time.  Had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to Olympic National Park.  We stopped at the visitor center and the park ranger suggested a hike along Hurricane Ridge.  The trail climbed 650 ft and was 1.6 miles into  the park.  It was quite steep in parts and wore me out, then we had to go down (my toes hurt).  The views were spectacular and we saw black-tail deer, marmot (similar to a ground hog, but the size of a raccoon.  The trail seemed like 3 miles one-way, so I was glad when we got back to the car.  We stopped at the picnic area and had some lunch and relaxed.

 

We moved on for a stop at Lake Crescent and a hike to Marymere Falls (1.5 miles roundtrip).  This trail was more flat, some stairs, but not too bad.   The trees were tall, like Redwood and they were completely covered with moss.  The sun doesn’t penetrate in, since the trees are so thick.  Back to Port Angeles for dinner and an evening of relaxation.  Tomorrow we take the ferry to Victoria!