Seattle and Olympic Penninsula Vacation (Part III)

August 8th and 9th. On the morning of the 8th, I rose early to take the bus back to Poulsbo to rent a car from Enterprise car rental. I thought we would need a car to travel on the western side of the Olympic National Park, which turned out to be the case. I got back to PT and the Olympic Hostel just as the rest of the fam was finishing a morning hike around 9 am. We drove toward Port Angeles on SR101, stopping at Sequim to visit a lavender farm.

Sequim claims to be the lavender capital of the world and the farm we visited was exquisite. Vast fields of lavender with hordes of bees buzzing all around. It was really magical. We also planned to briefly hike on the Dungeness Spit (supposedly the longest spit in the world). However, I think we were all a little tired from yesterday's activities and cut the hike short as the DS didn't overwhelm us. After a quick, but ennervating lunch in Sequim, we proceeded to Port Angeles and the Flagstone hotel.

Port Angeles was an okay stop. The town was a blue-collar working class harbor with huge transport ships in the harbor night and day. The Flagstone Hotel, were we stayed, was a real bargain. Clean, inexpensive, near the town center and with a million-dollar view of the Olympic Mountains (reserve a room on the third floor with a view) that we would visit the next day. Toward evening we visited the Marine Science Museum and got to touch sea cucumbers, starfish, anemones, sea urchins, crabs and other tide pool creatures. Although small, this museum prepares you for the diverse aquatic life you can expect to find in the tidal pools and the docents were appreciative of our interest and spent a lot of time showing us around. The best attraction was an anemone, whose scientific name was something, something, elegantissima. A very attractive anemone!

The next day we planned to drive up to Hurrican Ridge and hike along the alpine meadows. In town, the weather was overcast and very foggy. I was really concerned that we wouldn't be able to see anything because the fog was so thick. There is 17 mile drive up to Hurricane Ridge and as we started to ascend the mountains the fog was completely enveloping. There was little visibility, although what vegetation we did manage to see on the sides of the roads appeared lush. Just as my anxiety that this would be a wasted day had climaxed, we broke through the fog that blanketed the lower valleys and had this magnificent view of the Olympic Mountain Range. This was one of the most impressive natural sites I have ever seen. The valleys were completely in fog, but up on Hurricane Ridge the sun was shining and the air was cool and clean.

Later, as we hiked along the Hurrican Ridge and Elwah alpine meadow trails the views were stunningly beautiful. There were wildflowers in bloom and majestic views in all directions. There was wildlife also. We saw eagles soaring on the wind currents, a marmot, an elk (or mule deer) and a family of grouses scatching for food among the alpine grasses. As we were heading back it appeared that the fog was climbing up one side of the ridge and we thought we might get fogged in and loose visibility. However, as the fog climbed higher it dissipated into wispy tufts that lent an eerie feeling to our aerie perch. We headed back down to the visitor center, each of us wishing we could spend more time here. This was probably the 'big' highlight of this trip and if we came back here again we would allot more time to hike along the trails and explore. Next, we drove apporximately 21/2 hours to the Lake Quinault Lodge. Here would begin our tour of the western side of the Olympic National Park.