Taking advantage of beautiful warm spring weather, we went up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. The views were stunning, but comparing the view (above) with a photo from about the same spot back 5 years ago and three weeks later in May shows that we have a very low snowpack this year.
For another view, this time looking down the Elwha River valley. This one is a little more difficult to compare snowfields, because they are similar and both are a long ways away.
These are trees above the Sol Duc vallely in the Olympic National Park on the Deer Lake Trail. While it wasn’t raining on this day, I haven’t spent much time in the Sol Duc valley without it getting cloudy, foggy, rainy, or at least drippy. And I’m not exactly sure if the Sol Duc meets the definition of a rain forest. The next valley down does meet the rainfall requirements … as do the next 3 major valleys after that. (Bogachiel, Hoh, Queets and Quinault)
These were taken during the recent trip I made to Hurricane Ridge. The view above is looking south down the Elwha River valley at the heart of the Olympic National Park. I have hiked the valley a number of times, and it’s as lovely from ground level as it looks from this elevation. Below is looking more west towards the south end of the Bailey Range. The close valley is the Elwha and on the other side of the ridge running along the other side of the Elwha is Long Creek … the ridge is Long Ridge.
This wet winter weather gets me longing for the warm days of summer. And here we are, not yet even officially winter, yet. I bet there are some others out there feeling the same way. I hope this image helps you get through the day. It was taken in the North Fork Skokomish valley of the Olympic National Park.
It’s getting colder and staying damp … signs that autumn is starting to move into winter. The first snowflakes of the fall/winter are in the forecast for this weekend (but temps too warm for it to stick around long). I saw this image and it reminded me that the warm, sunny weather will come again. This is the Upper Dungeness in the Olympic National Forest in the eastern corner of the Olympic Peninsula.