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06/18/15 - Klahane Ridge

We don't believe it either. We made it up the Switchback Trail to Klahane Ridge. We were exhausted. We weren't used to the altitude. We kvetched and whined our way up the first thousand feet or so. Don't get us wrong. The scenery was spectacular with the Olympic Mountain range in the distance and fields of larkspur, cow parsnip and paintbrush beside the trail. We just weren't up to climbing all 1450 feet.

Well, we did. At 1000 feet, the Olympic Mountains appear above Sunrise Point which is near the Hurricane Ridge Lodge. We were still dead on our feet, but we pushed onward. At some point, we started feeling a little less awful, and at around 1200 feet we realized that there was a good chance of making it to Klahane RIdge.

Maybe it was just the knowledge that we were almost at the ridge. Maybe it was the golden marmots. We saw three of them. But somehow, we made it. The view to the north was spectacular despite a few clouds in the bowl of mountains below us.

On our way down, it started to rain. At first it was just a gentle misting, but by the time we made it to the junction with the trail to the lodge, it was raining gently. The air was moist and fresh. Everything smells a bit different in the rain, and we could see that the hanging gardens could use some watering. On our entire drive down, we marveled. Somehow, we had climbed Klahane Ridge on our first try.

A view from the ridge

A view of the Olympic Range

A closeup

A golden marmot

Another golden marmot

Gathering clouds

Columbine

This little guy was right next to the trail.

Clouds and stone

Lupine and phlox

This is a great year for larkspur.

Keywords: klahane ridge, marmots