Panorama
Hurricane Hill
Hurricane Hill is one of the most visited spots in the Olympic National Park both summer and winter. In summer the trail is paved (and thus accessable) and heavily used. The number of visitors is restricted in the winter because the road to Hurricane Ridge is only open on weekends. At 5757 feet (1755 m) the “hill” is a snowshoe and crosscountry ski destination. This winter there isn’t enough snow for much of that … at least at this point. Hopefully, there will be some winter or spring storms dropping lots more snow.
Winter Elwha Valley Views
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.
Sun Dogs
We went for a walk up at Hurricane Ridge (in Olympic National Park) the other day. There wasn’t enough snow to snowshoe … we’ll be in a drought this summer, if we don’t get more snow up in the mountains. But there were a couple of sun dogs … I always like them dogs. The one below also shows some of the central Olympics. Dodger Point is the closest one with the ridge running up to it.
Note that I processed these in LIghtroom and enhanced the contrast to make it easier to see the sun dogs.
Winter Lakeshore
This was taken out canoeing on Lake Quinault, just outside the Olympic National Park. I was so lucky to have this trip scheduled ahead of time and get a nice sunny day with no wind in the middle of winter in the rainforest. The mountains in the background are in the Colonel Bob Wilderness. The deciduous trees are alder, cottonwood and willow.