Another fascinating area of Olympic National Park is the mountains... perhaps best represented by Hurricane Ridge, which is so named because of the high winds that are common there. I thought that my visit to the ridge wasn't going to be very interesting, as when I left the nearby town of Port Angeles, the sky was covered with clouds from one horizon to the next. As I drove up the road to the ridge and got closer and closer to the summit, however, the clouds got thinner and soon I was above the clouds! Along the last two miles of the road the sky was clear, blue and sunny. When I got to the top there was a LOT of snow, and absolutely NO wind! It was quite a treat to visit the summit on such a clear, calm day.
I only had a little time to spend at the summit, as I was planning on catching the 4:00 ferry to British Columbia. So, after snapping a few pictures it was time to head back down. Not long after I started back down the road I was again below the clouds, and returned to the world of gray skies.
Above: The snowbanks here were even higher than they were at Mt. Rainier!
Above and below: With an annual snowfall of around 400 inches, it takes some serious heavy-duty equipment to keep the road open. Pictured above is a road grader with a large v-plow blade attached to the front. Pictured below is one of the specialty snowblowers that they use to help keep the road open.
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