Skokomish Park Campground, Olympic National Forest, Washington
27 July 2022
Marc- 08:00 departure from our campsite for the gatehouse store to get internet access. Sean invited us all over for brunch at Isaac’s rental house. Fantastic food with fantastic people.
12:00 departure for Sue and I to see more of Olympic National Park by heading North 2-1/2 hours to Hurricane Ridge high in the Olympic mountains. The Visitors Center and trailheads are at 5700 feet. The view from this elevation is superb, seeing all the way to the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the North and at snow and glacier covered Mt. Olympus (7980 feet) to the South. To the East and West are many more mountains that form the Olympic Range.
We did some hiking and saw lots of wildflowers. These flowers burst out as soon as the snow melts to take advantage of the short growing season. Beautiful yellow, red, orange and purple wildflowers lining the paths and road. The fir trees and cedar trees at this elevation are stunted and twisted by the elements. One area led us to a snowfield slowly melting in the hot summer sunshine (85 degrees). We enjoyed a snack back at the Visitor’s Center. During our 18 mile long decent to sea level at Port Angeles we saw a black bear feeding by the side of the road and a deer run across the road. Port Angeles is a port city with ferry service to Victoria, British Columbia across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Our return trip brought us South along Hood Canal and its several fisheries. One bay had oyster farms. The term Canal is misleading. The Hood Canal describes a natural passage that is about 40 miles long and between 1/2 and 1 mile wide and connected to Puget Sound.
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