Sequim Bay State Park, day 2

October, 2018

While I was on this camping trip, my friends who live in the town of Sequim happened to be home and not out gallivanting around the world as they are known to do. They are such fun and so love to see new things, just like I do! They very generously took me in their car and drove me all over hell’s half acre showing me the sights. I loved it!

First we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, which is so aptly named! At 5,242 feet high in the Olympic Mountains, the wind here can be powerfully furious. On the other hand, when it’s not windy, it can be absolutely one of the most comfortable and beautiful places on earth, summer or winter or in between.

While we were here this day, the wind was close to furious in its intensity and it was exceedingly cold to boot, even though there wasn’t yet snow on the ground. It was colder than billy be damned, or colder than a well-diggers butt, or colder than a witch’s you-know-what (though I’ve known some really nice women who are witches and they aren’t cold at all), or maybe that wind was colder than a polar bear’s pajamas. Anyway, you get the idea. That wind was piercing! We didn’t linger. And we didn’t take pictures (too damn windy and cold), so I snagged the photos below from the internet so you can see a bit of where I was.

Compared with the photo above, there were about half as many cars in the lodge parking lot on the day we were there. And there was a bit less snow in the mountains as well. The new winter snow hadn’t yet arrived when we were there. But the views when we were there were equally as stunning as in the photos here. Oh my!

The views from the high “prairies” around the lodge are indescribable.

And if you hike far enough (or have a drone to take aerial photos), the vistas open up even more.

Above … the view in early winter from the lower patio of the lodge.

Above … in the very heart of winter, there are all manner of opportunities for fun and beauty. The road up to Hurricane Ridge is open on weekends during the winter, unless the weather is just too terrible even for the snow-removal equipment. The road is full of switch-backs with no guardrails, which wouldn’t be my cup of tea when ice or snow are present. But if the road has been plowed and is clear, then let’s go!

But we were here in late fall and there wasn’t a drop of snow or ice on the road. It was simply beautiful and looked much like the first photo above.

On our way back down the hill, back down toward Sequim, we turned off the road into “Heart O’ the Hills” campground, just to scope it out for future camping ideas. What a beauty this place was! It’s on my list as a future destination for sure.

 

My two favorite campsites … #11 above and #12 below. Both were relatively private. The view from my trailer windows would be only of the forest, and the sound would be only the music of a beautiful mountain stream echoing up from far below.

Our next adventure this day, after seeing Hurricane Ridge, was to drive all the way back down to sea-level. We drove to a spot on the Olympic Discovery Trail … a trail that covers 130 miles clear across the entire northern end of the Olympic Peninsula … from Port Townsend on the east (on Puget Sound) to La Push on the west (on the Pacific Ocean coast).

Now, don’t get the wrong idea. We did not hike that entire 130 miles. What we did do was go visit the Railroad Bridge Park which is on the Olympic Discovery Trail and is just outside of Sequim. We then walked across that railroad bridge (the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge) and then we walked along the trail for a bit. It was such a pretty walk on such a beautiful autumn day. Not a breath of wind down here … it was lovely.

 

Above and below … the Dungeness River.

 

Open, unfenced farm land beside the trail.

What a great day this was. From the roaring, frigid heights of Hurricane Ridge, all the way down to temperate, sea-level farmland and the gentle rippling edges of the Dungeness River just before it empties into the ocean in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Tomorrow my friends are coming with their car again and we’re going to see even more things. Be ready to get in the car and go!