Olympic National Park
We left Port Townsend this morning in a light rain and traveled toward Port Angeles. Passed the town of Sequim and drove to the Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles. The ranger suggested we drive to Hurricane Ridge as it is the only place in the park you can see into the Olympic wilderness area. We started the seventeen mile drive, a 6 to 7% climb, and after about seven miles the whole area was covered in blowing clouds. We were thinking as we ascended into the clouds that we were not going to get to really see anything. Then, at about the sixteenth mile, the clouds cleared for a few minutes and we quickly pulled over to see an absolutely beautiful wilderness. We continued on up to the top of Hurricane Ridge and were rewarded with repeated instances of cloud clearing and beautiful views. There is a large visitor center at the top of Hurricane Ridge, unmanned but open to the public, lots of displays and wonderful views from the big windows overlooking the interior of the park.
Heart O’ The Hills Campground
Decided to camp for the night at the National Park campground called Heart O’ the Hills that is located at the beginning of the road that leads up to Hurricane Ridge. For $6/night (with our senior NP pass) we are camped among many beautiful, old growth trees. There is one other RV in the campground but we cannot see him from our site. The amazing thing here is that we get cell phone and internet access. I don’t know about TV as we rarely watch it. The campsite includes a picnic table & a fire pit but no hook-ups, of course. We arrived here just before dark and got set-up, which was good as when it is dark here it is really dark.
