Day 31 – (08/18) Port Angeles, WA ... Day 3

The morning started with clouds hanging low into the mountain tops. The temperature was in the mid-50s.

We stopped at Granny’s Café for breakfast. Granny’s is a delightful little place on US-101 a few miles east of the campground. There were six tables and a counter. The place was full (no surprise), the service was excellent and the meal was quite good home cooking.

This is to be a day of hiking and touring parts of the Olympic National Park. We started with a drive to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center. The 17 mile trip gave us a real kick-start for the day. The clouds cleared, the road was really curvy and the mountain views were breathtaking. This trip really should have been made in a Miata.

There are lots of Olympic Mountains

Here's an eastern view of some from the visitor center

Here's a western view of some from the visitor center

The western view ... a bit closer, with Mt. Olympus in the center

We drove 1 ½ miles beyond the visitor center on an even curvier, narrow road to the start of the Hurricane Trail. It’s 3.2 miles (round trip) and climbs 700 ft in elevation to nearly 6,000 ft..

Carol's ready to head way up there

But, she finds a "way down there" on the way up

Steve & Carol (retired teachers from CT) were hiking partners

The smiles come when you get close to the top

A look back at the trail we've travelled

You can see Port Angeles from the summit

A view of the top of the ridge

This is the end of the trail

Oops, Dick must have backed up too much.

The hike was pretty tiring. Carol wasn’t feeling well, so we went back to the campground for rest and a relaxing pasta dinner.

We’re heading to the ocean tomorrow. We’ll be staying in La Push on the Quileute Indian Reservation.

Map Tracks

Start: Shadow Mountain RV ParkEast on US-101 to Port Angeles, Washington

South into Olympic National Park to Hurricane Ridge

Return

End: 73 miles @ Shadow Mountain RV Park