Dave and I flew to Seattle on Tuesday. We rented a car and drove to Port Angeles. We are spending the next week plus with our friends, Jennifer and Danny, who recently moved out here. To kick off the trip, we walked downtown to grab dinner. My request was a Dungeness crab.
On Wednesday, Dave and I drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. Our first stop was at the top of Hurricane Ridge to do a little reconnaissance mission for Thursday. We walked out to sunrise point. Yes, that’s our plan for Thursday morning – chase sunrise.
I really can’t get over how many mountains there are in ONP. There are mountains as far as you can see. The snow caps are Mount Olympus.
Our next stop was a little bit down the mountain. We parked at the Switchback Trailhead. From here, we hiked up to the top of Klahhane Ridge. It was a steep climb for these Florida Sunshiners.
Here’s some fun science information for you. This picture is of a tree with burls. A tree burl is a large round formation on the trunk of the tree it is caused by a disease, insect or injury. The cells of the tree become mutated and grow in a circular pattern creating the tumor looking burl. Woodworkers love them because they can make really cool bowls or furniture with them.
We continued our climb. My legs and lungs were burning! The view just got better and better. This is what I expected when I thought of ONP. Mountains with lots of evergreen trees!
What I wasn’t expecting was how many different mountains would surround us!
The top of Klahhane Ridge didn’t disappoint. Just when we thought we couldn’t see anything more beautiful- we reach the top and see Port Angeles and water!
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, thank you, and you know I love to talk about rocks. This picture shows how the rock layer stratification has been tilted. Rocks lay down flat. When you see the horizontal layers become vertical, some sort of movement has occurred.
We hiked back down the mountain and worked our way to the visitor center.
The four of us reunited, enjoyed dinner and a walk around town.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more adventures from ONP.