Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Olumpus

 We’re enjoying our time in Port Angeles. We took a short drive to the ferry terminal to watch the shipping activity and breathe the salty ocean air!

There were two freighters in port, with one being turned around for departure to the Pacific Ocean.


The Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C. ferry was just arriving.


A closer look revealed a few battle scars!


The MV Coho was launched in 1959 and is capable of transporting 1,000 passengers and 110 vehicles on the 90 minute trip. The rates are spendy, with a car and one passenger being charged about $80. If your vehicle combo is longer than 18 feet, there is a $5.75 per foot surcharge! Oh, and additional passengers are $23 each. This rv waiting to board would have to pay somewhere in the $250 range, one way!

We decided to track a low speed road into the Olympic National Park. The 17.5 mile long road winds its way to the Hurricane Ridge parking area at an elevation of 5,242 feet. There are numerous hiking trails at points along the road, but at the top, the Hurricane Ridge Trail is the most walked, presenting stunning views of the Olympic Mountains.

The road to the top is beautiful.


It takes awhile to get to the top at 25 mph, but the views are gorgeous. This side of the mountain range is very dry while the west side is very wet. The Olympic mountains block most of the moisture coming in from the Pacific, but Hurricane Ridge still gets about 19 feet of snow in the winter!





One of our memories from a previous visit was the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center, but it no longer exists.


The building burned downed in 2023, leaving nothing but a sterile foundation.

We noticed that the semi temporary buildings were securely tied down. Hurricane, indeed!


A stop on the way down gave us an opportunity to look back up the mountain where we had just been.


The view in the northern direction looked out over the Salish Sea and the towns of Port Angeles and Sequim.


It has been a hazy, foggy kind of day, so the photos are a little fuzzy, but good memories just the same.

Day 2 of the Olympic Peninsula is in the books and we look forward to more fun tomorrow!



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