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05/14/25 - Hurricane Ridge 2025 - First Look

We drove up to Hurricane Ridge to see how the snow was melting. It's melting, but there's still a lot of it. It's still strange pulling into the parking lot, gawking at the spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains and realizing that lodge is gone. The park service has set up temporary facilities, but the lodge with its model of the mountains, plaque of Scoop Jackson and various exhibits is gone.

The mountains are still there. They were hazy at first, but the clouds lifted. The sky turned blue, and the distant snow topped peaks were crystalline. We didn't wander far. Did we mention the snow. There had been eight feet at the stake. Now there were some clear areas but most of the trails were snow covered. The roads to Hurricane Hill and Obstruction Point were, unsurprisingly, closed as well.

We walked across the field. There were a few golden glacier lilies, some robins, just like the ones at sea level, some deer, just like the ones at sea level and some lovely smells. We looked down and north towards Port Angeles, but all we saw was cloud. It lifted a bit, but just enough to see some distant hills and forest.

We walked back to our car and took a last look south at the main Olympic range when we smelled it. There was a faint whiff of phlox. We had seen some on the bare hills along the road up, but it was great smelling that sweet odor again. We were looking right at it a ways to the south.


The view



A glacier lily


The temporary facilities - At least we hope they are temporary.

Some clear trail

Edge of the snow



A robin

Deer

We're not sure.

A clearer view



A typical view north


We smelled phlox.

Phlox



A blue grouse, seen by the side of the road on our drive down

Keywords: hurricane hill, hurricane ridge, obstruction point, port angeles, trails