This is the view of the valley of the Elwha River from Hurricane Ridge. The Elwha River runs down through the middle of the Olympic National Park. All these valleys were behind the Glines Canyon Dam for over 100 years. With the removal of the dam, all of these rivers are now wild and the salmon and steelhead runs are returning.
I am ever surprised at the harsh environments that life can find a way to survive in. The image above shows some of the stress that these trees are under from wind and snowpack. This is up at over a mile in elevation at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. Below is a different part of the Olympic Mountains (outside of the park) … but the group of trees are still up in a subalpine area on Mt Ellinor.
We took a break before hiking in the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic National Park. We immediately we visited by a flock of gray jays. I am always amazed how they seem to know where someone is eating. We guard our food carefully, since they are so little afraid of humans that they will swoop down and grab food off the picnic table right in front of you.
I like the different expressions they exhibit. And their lack of fear of humans (while generally a bad thing) is helpful for being able to get images like these with your iPhone. I shot these with my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I had a camera with me, but left it in the knapsack for these.
The top image is looking across the valley of the Elwha to the north end of the Bailey Range … central section of the Olympic National Park. The image below is looking farther south to the central section of the Bailey Range. Besides the beauty of the clouds and weather with the interplay with the ridges, the unsettled weather keeps the crowds down.
This was taken from Hurricane Hill, a short hike from the end of the Hurricane Ridge / Hurricane Hill road in the Olympic National Park. There is a rainbow reflection in the middle of the rain shower over the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I haven’t looked down on a rainbow like this before … not sure exactly what to call it, since it isn’t really a “bow”. I wish it was more clear, but it is what it is … I played with it in Lightroom, but this was the best I could do.