April 29 - United States: Olympia, WA

Today, we spent the day in Olympic National Park.  We stopped by the Ranger's Station in Olympia first, and found out that most of the roads are closed due to snow, and all the campsites are closed.  So it looks like we'll be staying at the Motel 6 again tonight.  If we'd spent some time really thinking about it, we would have realized that - in spring - the northern parks would be snowed in.  But we didn't, and so we're faced with cold weather and snowed-in roads.  The good news, however, is that we have most of the parks to ourselves.

This was definitely true on Olympic National Park today.  To get to Hurricane Ridge - the only sight that was open in Olympic - we drove the hour and a half to the park.  Most of the road was alongside the Hood Canal and through some lovely little towns.  There were lots of people clamming and diving for shrimp and lobsters.  It was a beautiful day in the sunny 65° weather, but I'll bet it's treacherous when it snows here.

Olympic National Park

We drove up to Hurricane Ridge, and had the entire road to ourselves.  It was windy and had some deep drop-offs, but the views were stunning.  At one view point, we stopped for pictures and saw a lovely quote from Thoreau:

"Simply to see a distant horizon through clean air.. is wealth enough for one afternoon". - Thoreau

The view of Puget Sound was a bit hazy, but not so much that we couldn't see the patches of emptiness left by the logging companies.  Jon thought we should put a picture on the website to demonstrate the difference between the old growth and the newly logged areas.

Bald Spots - Results of Logging

Does this mean we're becoming liberal, just because we noticed this?  I really hope not.

Hurricane Ridge

We continued up the windy road to Hurricane Ridge, and were simply floored by the gorgeous view.  We parked at the lodge and ate turkey sandwiches in front of the view.  

Jon and The Lunch View... Wow.

It was sunny, but the wind was cool when the wind blew.  But it was so lovely that we decided to go for a hike in the snow.  There were people cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing, and all the trails were snowed over.  So Jon and I struck out on our own and wandered around to the most picturesque spots we could find.

Jon - Frolicking in the Snow

It didn't take long for us to heat up, and pretty soon Jon had de-layered to his shorts and t-shirt and I to my tank top.  Quite a contrast to the snowy background.

The View from Hurricane Ridge

After playing around the snow for a few hours, our boots were wet and our toes cold.  So we decided it was time to head back.  On the road near Hood Canal, we passed a HUGE heard of elk on the roadside.  We didn't even see them until one of the bucks almost ran out in front of us.  They were beautiful.

Back in Olympia, we broke out the camping stove and cooked dinner.  Jon had pasta and I had tomato soup.