First national park of the trip! Olympic National Park and the Olympic Peninsula are what I had in mind when I first thought about digital nomading in Washington State, so I was excited for this weekend.
The rangers were holding people at the gate for specified intervals (it was 50 seconds when I went through), in an attempt to control the available parking space at the top.
I was grumbling to myself that there’s no reason for the rangers to worry about parking when you can see the mountains disappearing into the clouds. It’s not like there’s going to be a view up there or anything.
But it was STUNNING at the top. I was doing that involuntary grin thing (like when riding Star Tours). And since I got there just as a motorcycle group left, there was plenty of parking.
The ranger was a great speaker, which I guess you’d have to be given the distracting view.
I’ve been to Hurricane Ridge once before and remember none of it except for the gift shop, which is probably the best in Olympic National Park.
Oh deer!
Tourists were getting close-enough-to-pet distance from the deer, but neither the deer nor the rangers seemed to mind.
There’s a path through the trees to a hill behind the visitor center.
More deer!
The last turn up the road before the parking lot.
On the way back down there’s a turnout with a phenomenal view of Port Angeles and Sequim. You can also see Victoria, BC across the water.
By