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09/28/09 - Fall Color in the High Country

Autumn is a great time to explore the high country of Olympic National Park. If nothing else, the colors can be spectacular. The alpine flowers peak early in the summer, but then the vegetation dries and withers. In the fall the foliage gets a second chance with its brilliant autumn colors.

We drove out to Obstruction Point to see if this year's dry spell would deprive us of our anticipated reds and golds. As it turned out, we had no reason to worry. The trail crossed quite a few patches of bright red. It was like walking the Field of Mars.

We also had a great marmot sighting. One of the little guys was right by the road. We just had to stop and roll down our window for an amazing close up view. All told, 2009 has been a great year for marmot watching.

One of our local golden marmots

The same guy, on the lookout

Some scenery

More scenery

Lingering snow

Bright red

More autumn color

One of those garden show rock gardens

The trail through the Field of Mars

Keywords: autumn, flowers, high country, marmots, obstruction point

08/26/09 - Great Year For Grouse

You can really see the change in color up at Hurricane Hill. The grasses are getting golden, and most of the flowers have passed into straw. The mountains are spectacular as ever, and there are grouse all over the place. You just have to keep an eye on the tall grass.

Passing green

Scenery

More scenery

Watch out. They'll eat your shoelaces.

A grouse: one of many

More scenery, and if you look carefully at the rocks you'll see a marmot.

Even more scenery

More grouse

A young grouse

Late flowers and the mountains

The last of the corn lilies

Keywords: flowers, hurricane hill, high country, grouse

08/25/09 - Obstruction Point: Late Summer

Summer is brief in the high country. Spring comes in a rush with the melting snows, and then there is a brief time when the land is lush with alpine blooms. Then the warmth and dry air of summer do their work and make ready for autumn. It isn't autumn yet, but the landscape is sere. Still, there is the awesome beauty of the high country and the more subtle blossoms of late summer.

Just another view

More scenery - Are we jaded yet?

The trail on top of the world

Mountain lakes and lingering snow

Paintbrush

Some succulent we were too lazy to look up

Late lupines - Hurry if you want your lupine fix.

The kind of stuff they try for at garden shows

The fields

Flowers

and more flowers

Keywords: obstruction point, autumn, flowers, high country, summer

07/12/09 - Obstruction Point 2 - Flowers and Animals

The trails leading from Obstruction Point have a lot to offer besides spectacular scenery. If you can take your eyes off the mountains for a moment, you'll notice that you are surrounded by dozens of different kinds of plants, and right now it seems that most of them are in bloom. There are lupines, asters, glacier lilies and paintbrush in red, orange and pink. If you are lucky, you might see one of the local golden marmots, or a blue sage grouse, a chipmunk or deer. So, don't let the drive daunt you. This may be your chance to see Obstruction Point at its most varied best.

These look like miniature lupines with silvery leaves.

Our friend, the marmot

Pink paintbrush

Lupines and friends

This reminds of the silverswords at Haleakala on Maui

More blooms

More paintbrush, but another shade

A young deer

A blue sage grouse taking a sand bath

Keywords: obstruction point, trails, high country, flowers, animals, marmots, grouse

07/12/09 - Obstruction Point 1 - The Trail

Obstruction Point Road has opened, and that means we can explore yet another part of the high country. The road itself is narrow, unpaved and has spectacular views. It leads to a trailhead that seems to be in the middle of nowhere and the middle everything. There are the brilliant glaciers of the Olympic Mountains, glimpses of the Cascades in the distance, and the great blue sky above.

The view of the Olympics

Melting snow on the hillsides

The path across the top of the world

Another view

There are glacial lakes down in this valley. They come in a variety of colors.

The valley

Rough ridges

The trail on a hillside

Snow sculpture

This is a photo of either neat looking rocks or a great view. We aren't sure.

Trail across the meadow

Keywords: high country, obstruction point

06/29/09 - First Rose On Hurricane Hill

The flower season is progressing in the high country. We spotted the first rose, along with more marmots, on the Hurricane Hill trail. The alpine flower season is nearing its peak. Take advantage of some of the wonderful weather and see for yourself.

The first rose

Keywords: high country, hurricane hill, marmots, weather

06/06/09 - Hurricane Hill

We haven't made it all the way up Hurricane Hill, but we have been making progress. The road from the lodge at Hurricane Ridge to the trailhead for the Hurricane Hill hike is still closed, though most of the snow has melted. The road isn't in very good shape, so the park service may be reluctant to use their heavy plows on it. So, we hiked from the lodge the to the trailhead and then a fair ways uphill.

Our efforts were well rewarded. The high country flowers are coming out in spades. The trail is lined with phlox, lupine spikes, glacier and avalanche lilies, paintbrush and a host of other flowers we haven't bothered to look up yet. Even with a stuffed nose, we couldn't miss the sweet scent of the phlox. We usually aren't big on sneak previews, but this year looks like a great year for the flowers on the Hurricane Hill trail.

Phlox in the rock garden

We aren't sure of what this plant is, but that butterfly seemed to like it.

Lupines and paintbrush

Some deer in silhouette

This is where we turned around. This is usually the last part of the trail to melt, so if we had pushed on we could have made it to the summit.

Glacier lilies - Look closely and you'll see a small blue butterfly.

An avalanche lily

Mushrooms seem to be doing well this year.

The view - The mountains seem to have made it through another winter.

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, spring

06/03/09 - First Climb To Klahane Ridge For 2009

We made it up to Klahane Ridge today. Thanks to the warm spring weather, most of the snow on the trail has melted, and even we, the Klumsy Kalebergs, managed to make it up the Switchback Trail to the ridge. There was some snow on the trail, but we managed to clamber through it with our trusty Yak Trax. At this rate of melt, if you tried the trail tomorrow, you'd wonder what all our fuss was about.

The trail was lined with furious alpine growth, and there were already some summer flowers, including avalanche lilies, lupines, and wonderfully scented phlox. The views were stupendous, and even as we climbed, we could sense the snow melting. On our way down, we noticed that the band of snow nestled in the corner of Mount Angeles was melting into a series of cascades. The high country is open, and the Switchback Trail is as spectacular as ever.

The trail and the mountains

Phlox in the foreground, Sunrise Point in the mid-ground and the Olympic Mountains in the background

North slope, south slope

More mountains, of all things

Port Angeles and the Strait below

The ridge and the mountains

A mushroom

An avalanche lily

Lupines

The snow melting - Click to enlarge, and you can see the waterfalls.

The band of snow

Keywords: flowers, high country, klahane ridge, spring, kale, waterfall

05/04/09 - The Lake Angeles Trail: An Update

Following up on our earlier post we took the Lake Angeles trail up to the crossing, a climb of about 700 feet. The trail was in good shape, with no downed trees on that stretch, but there must have been a fair bit of snow melt, as some parts of the trail are eroded, and the park service seems to have cut a number of small trenches to channel water off of the trail to prevent further erosion. By yesterday, the trail was pretty dry.

We turned around at the little bridge, but we spoke with a few people who had climbed farther. Apparently, you can get fairly far up the trail without running into much ice or snow, but a few hundred feet below the lake there is ice and snow on the trail, and the going is tricky. No one we met had actually made it to the lake, though we imagine that some hardy park service people have been there. We'll have to climb a bit farther next time. It isn't just a matter of the trail melting; we have to get into shape.

The little bridge - no snow

There is some snow around.

As beautiful and haunting as ever

Keywords: lake angeles, spring, high country

05/02/09 - The Lake Angeles Trail: Gateway to the High Country

The Lake Angeles Trail starts near the entry station on Hurricane Ridge Road and runs from about 1900 feet up to Lake Angeles which is about 4200 feet above sea level. It starts at a modest elevation, but it runs up into the lower reaches of the high country. Its low starting elevation means that it thaws out well before the high country trails do, so it is a good trail for getting back into shape.

We drove five miles up Hurricane Ridge Road and checked out the trailhead. There was no snow. The last official report was from early April, and the park people reported plenty of snow, and mountain lion tracks in the snow up around the bridge. We saw neither snow nor mountain lion tracks which was just as well. We did see trilliums, but that is another story.

The trail to the high country

Someone decorated the little bridge near the start of the trail

The obligatory trillium photo

Keywords: high country, lake angeles, trails, trillium

12/01/08 - News Flash - Winter Has Been Postponed

We seem to have been premature with our previous post about the arrival of showshoeing season. The snows have melted, and that meant we yet another chance to climb the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge. There was a little snow on the trail, but it was melting rapidly, so we had an easy climb. That is, we had an easy 1,500 foot, 57 minute, hard breathing, muscle wracking ascent. Judging from the Hurricane Ridge web camera, the high country is still snow free, so consider a pre-Christmas climb this coming weekend.

Yes, there is some snow, and the high mountains are exquisite.

That's what is was like up at Klahane Ridge.

You can see the clouds below, some sneaking upland through the valley. It might be cloudy in town, but the high country is often clear.

More scenery

The autumn colors have gone beyond russet.

Keywords: autumn, high country, klahane ridge

11/09/08 - Patience and Persistence Rewarded

This is a tricky time for visiting the high country. The clouds often hide the spectacular view from Hurricane Ridge and the Hurricane Hill Trail. We saw at least one car pull into the parking lot near the lodge, make a U-turn, and head right on down, most likely because the mountains were hidden by gray. We didn't let that stop us. We went on to the Hurricane Hill trail and walked in the strange silence of the gray cloud, seeing only the nearby trail.

We huffed and puffed our way past The Hamper. That's around the half way point. It gets that name because of all the dirty sock plant that grows there. We kept on climbing to the very summit, and there we were, surrounded by gray cloud. We could make out shadows of trees in the near distance, but of the far mountains or the strait, there was no sign.

We started back down, and the first bit of blue broke through the cloud. The fog was lifting. By the time we checked out the corn lily side spur, we could see some of the nearby cliffs. As we passed Marmot Rock the sun burned through a blue hole, and soon we were rewarded with fantastic glimpses of the far mountains through the parting clouds. On a clear day the distant mountains are beautiful, but there is an even greater grandeur when the mountains are awash in clouds.

The view from the summit: Visibility is improving.

Stuff growing from stone

Autumn grasses against the gray sky

A sudden clearing

More autumn color

Clouds and mountains (click to enlarge)

Mountains awash in cloud

The fantastic vista

The scene changes as the clouds shift.

Keywords: autumn, high country, hurricane hill

10/05/08 - First Snow on Hurricane Hill - Part 2

It wasn't much of a snow by mountain standards. Last year we had over 40 feet, and the record fall was over 60 back in 1999. It was just a dusting, but it was enough to set off the autumn colors, and enhance the other worldly beauty of the mountains.











Keywords: autumn, flowers, high country, hurricane hill

10/05/08 - First Snow on Hurricane Hill - Part 1

There was a dusting of snow in the hills the other night. When we woke up there was a fresh coat of snow on the mountains. We weren't sure if we could get up to Hurricane Hill, but we called 360 565 3131. They had the update from the previous afternoon. The webcam had been down since around 4:30 on Saturday. A little after nine we got the word. The road was open, so we set out for the high country.

We could see fresh snow on the distant hills, but we didn't see much by the road side until we were at the Hurricane Ridge parking lot. The trees were frosted, but the road was clear. We headed on to Hurricane Hill, and we were rewarded for our persistence. This had been a wet summer, so the alpine vegetation was lush and the grasses higher and fuller. There had been a profusion of flowers. In September, temperatures started to drop, and the autumn colors came in. There were the golds and reds and browns. Now, an early snow had come, and highlighted all this rich color.











Keywords: autumn, flowers, high country, hurricane hill

09/27/08 - Above The Clouds To Lake Angeles

One of the things about living at sea level near the high country of the North Olympic Mountains is how different the mountain weather can be from the weather around our house. The weather is often cooler in the mountains, and the winds stronger. They call it Hurricane Ridge for a reason. The low country is subject to ocean mist condensed from the humid air by the cold waters of the strait. Sometimes, low clouds present an ominous sky to those at sea level, but the clouds top out at few thousand feet. That means bright sun in the mountains, and an opportunity for a good hike into sunshine.

We recently hiked up the Lake Angeles Trail on one such cloudy day. The lower part of the trail was gray. The fog thickened around 1000' APL (above parking lot, so that's about 2900' above sea level). We kept on climbing. Around 1800' APL the first shafts of sunlight broke through the trees and formed thick shafts in the fading mist. A bit more climbing and we were above the clouds. Lake Angeles itself (about 2400' APL) was sunny. In fact, it was so sunny, we had trouble getting a good picture as you can see.

Our descent mirrored our ascent. We went from the sunny day of the high country to foggy trail to the cloudy sky of the lowlands. We expect cloudy days out here in the Pacific Northwest, but it is nice to be able to climb our way out of them now and then.

The misty forest

The cliffs around the lake, and lots of sun

Sun on the lake

Keywords: high country, lake angeles, weather

08/19/08 - Obstruction Point In Season

Obstruction Point Road has been open for a couple of weeks now, so we drove out to the end of the road and checked out some of our favorite high country. It was a clear, sunny day, and the views of the distant mountains were spectacular. The Lilian Ridge trail is a high, open trail, so there was plenty of sky.

Most of the snow has melted, though there were a few big patches here and there. The little lakes in the valley were full and surrounded by lush green vegetation. We could tell this was a moist year. All of the plants were big and green, and there were lots of lupines and still a bit of phlox.

Our special treat was a marmot, scampering across the trail near the staircase that leads down from the point to the traverse. We couldn't get a good picture, only a shot of its tail as it vanished into the shattered field of rocks.

This part of the park is only open for a few months of the year, from July through October, so we try to make the most of it. Despite the road work, our drive up on a Saturday was pretty smooth. A lot of Hurricane Ridge Road has already been repaved, and the one lane sections expanded back to two. That's real progress. If you are ever in the area around this time of year, head up to Hurricane Ridge, then take a sharp turn and head out to Obstruction Point and really explore the Olympic Mountains.






Keywords: high country, hurricane ridge, obstruction point

08/15/08 - Deer Lake Adventure

The high country is officially open, at least as far as we Kalebergs are concerned. We have returned to Deer Lake. This is always a hard climb, not because of the nearly 1600' ascent, but because the trail is rough going with rocks large and small and portions of the trail are a bit warm and humid. There are only one or two short smooth sections, but the rest of the trail is "watch your step". Mind you, it is a beautiful hike, and Deer Lake is a silken wonder, but it takes something to get up there.

It took us the better part of two hours to get from the Sol Duc trailhead to the little bridge at the head of the lake. We munched our sandwiches, ventresca tuna with roasted green peppers and sweet onions. Then we made our way back down.

Usually, our adventures end in the parking lot, but this time we had a way to go. Our car wouldn't start, or rather, it would start, but then turn off. Something was off with the anti-theft transponder. So, we got a ride with a Dutch tourist who was nearing the end of his drive from San Diego to Seattle. We called AAA, and we settled down to dinner at the Sol Duc resort. We had a few nice glasses of wine, planked salmon, crab cakes and a marionberry crisp. That put us in a better mood. We knew AAA wasn't going to make their one hour goal. We were at least a full hour's drive from the nearest station. Still, we had faith. There were no rooms at the inn.

Our tow truck driver was great, with a gentle hand and a big truck. We dropped the car off for repairs and tucked into bed late. This time we Kalebergs had a bit more adventure than we had bargained for.

Deer Lake under a cloudy sky

There was still some snow on the mountains. The park reports a foot or two of snow at the High Divide.

The bridge over the marsh

These guys had neat looking flowers

More great summer flowers

The canyon falls at 450 apl (above parking lot)

This may be the 10,000,000th photo of Sol Duc Falls, but we couldn't resist.

Keywords: deer lake, high country, sol duc, salmon, kale

07/15/08 - Klahane Ridge

The Klahane Ridge hike is one of the most spectacular in Olympic National Park. From the ridge there are views north of the Dungeness Spit, the San Juan Islands, Mount Baker and points beyond, and views south of the Olympic Mountains, including Mount Olympus with its Blue Glacier. It is a 1450' climb through hanging gardens and alpine meadows and, while exhausting, every step is rewarding.

We start the hike from Hurricane Ridge Road a mile or two before the lodge at Hurricane Ridge. A part of the road collapsed near the trailhead, so there is a bit of construction and a bit less parking there. The little stream near the road is now hidden behind a mound of road material, but it is still there, as is the umbrella tree forest and the meadows and gardens above.

This year there was more moisture, so the flowers are spectacular with great spikes of lupine, arrays of turk's cap lilies, gauntlets of cow parsnips, fields of indian paintbrush and great swathes of richly scented phlox. Summer has come to the high country. The snow has vanished, and the hanging gardens are in bloom. We can tell already that this is going to be a great year for the mountain flowers.

Melting snow, Dungeness Spit, the San Juan Islands and points north

A field of phlox

The Olympic Mountains as seen from Klahane Ridge

Lush alpine meadows

A glorious year for the flowers

The hanging gardens

Some lupines by the trail

Keywords: flowers, high country, hurricane ridge, klahane ridge, mount baker

07/06/08 - The Official Olympic National Park Trail Status Page

No, it's not at our site; it's maintained by the government at http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-trail-conditions.htm. If you are serious about hiking the high country, or just curious, that's the go to page.

Keywords: high country

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