Hurricane Ridge

Last time I wrote about going up to Hurricane Ridge. Just to give you an idea of where it is, go to THIS LINK. I tried to save a map and post it here but it didn't work and I don't want to sit at the computer all afternoon in 90 degree heat to show you. :)
It was a great time. It was to be about 92 degrees at the house so we put in our window unit in the bathroom Friday night (only window it would fit in without building an attachment to the house) and took off for 75 degree weather in the mountains. It takes about 2.5 hours to get there. If you look at the map, it really doesn't seem that far, but when you add in the two lane highway that leads all the way there and the slow drivers here in Washington, it takes a while.

We sat down for lunch when we first got there and this car was stopped, holding up traffic. My head was asking "what the heck are you doing, crazy Washington driver??" Then I saw this in the road:



After lunch we went down to the visitor's center and found him here:
This thing was RIGHT next to the walkway. He must lay there a lot because he wasn't scared of us at all and also, there was a bare spot when he got up (he was scared of Aaron).

Starting out on our hike




This is the San Juan islands and the straight. In the distance you can see Mt. Baker, the mountain Rainier competes yearly with for the most snowfall in the US.


This kid was obsessed with leaves, so we had to stop quite often for him to feel the leaves and how prickly they were. At least each stop included shade!

Those would be the Olympic mountains in the background. I gave this guy my camera (yes, my big one). He had one similar to it so I thought he might know what he was doing...sort of. And I figured if he tried to take off with it I could still chase him down on top of a ridge.

That is the straight and Vancouver Island. If you look closely, you can see Victoria.


This was the only time Aaron got out of the backpack the whole hike because it was very steep on each side, we were truly hiking on a ridge.




This was our trail. As far as you can see the trail is as far as we hiked (actually we hiked farther because you can't see the visitor's center from here, it's over the far ridge).



This was down a gravel road about 20 miles. Of course Chuck wanted to go off roading, so we did. Now, we went 4-wheeling the day before I was induced with Aaron to help naturally induce labor. It didn't work. I couldn't figure out how it was supposed to work because it wasn't at all uncomfortable. We actually broke the jeep doing it! This time, I guess she's so far low I can TOTALLY understand how it would induce labor. Oh my, it was so uncomfortable at times! But the views were amazing and we got a better view of Mt. Olympus.


This would be Mt. Olympus, right in the middle, it's got three peaks.



Aaron grabbing more leaves


This little guy literally jumped right out in front of me, turned around and stopped, as if to say, "feed me!!!"

Aaron wanted to look over the edge...yikes!


That's about it! We had a great time! Aaron was so worn out, it didn't take him long to fall asleep in the Jeep. It's nice to go new places and see what we've wanted to see for a long time!