8/5/08 - Olympic National Park, Washington

We left Bellevue, Wa., (Seattle) and drove to Olympic National Park via the road. We could have taken the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge and used the road from there which would have been shorter in distance, but it was cheaper to drive and pay for gas and go the long way than to pay to use the ferry. We arrived at Olympic National Park and set up the Casita in the campground closest to Port Angeles called Heart O’ The Hills. This is a massive national park. To go to the other side which is on the Pacific would require a round trip of 180 miles and there is more to see beyond that. We will only stay in this area. We went to the visitor center at Hurricane Ridge and walked a couple of the trails. One was a lookout where you could see across the Strait of Juan De Fuca and see the city of Victoria, British Columbia (if you look closely at the second picture you can see the city of Victoria on the far side of the strait - - click on it to make it larger). We hope to use the ferry tomorrow and go there to sight see. At Hurricane Ridge there is a magnificent panorama of the Olympic Mountains. But, today the wind was blowing from California and the wildfire smoke had visibility to a minimum, of course. We did see a tremendous number of wildflowers along the paths we walked today. This is the perfect season for wildflowers in the Cascades and Olympic Mountains.