On A Whim: Hurricane Ridge

The Olympic Mountains are the home of mountain goats, black-tailed deer, and Olympic marmot. The skies above are the realm of soaring eagles, deeply croaking ravens, and ephemeral cloudscapes. I feel humbled to have access to explore these immeasurably magical mountains.

In the Olympic Mountains, timberline is between 4,000 and 6,000 feet, which is lower (in general) than other west coast mountain ranges. This is because of the incredible amount of precipitation that falls here. The annual snowfall on Hurricane Ridge averages 30-35 feet! The winter of 2014-2015 was an unusually (and terrifyingly) low precipitation year, hence the bare ground in this photo which was taken at an elevation of around 5,000 feet.

The most spectacular adventures are often born on a whim. Sometimes a trail entices us to explore it when we hadn’t planned on doing so.

Last April on Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains, an impulse idea sparked, tugged, and locked in: “Instead of going back the way we came, let’s run along that ridge, cut across that bowl, and see if we can connect back to the trail after scrambling down that snowfield on the other side of that peak. A couple extra hours? As long as my feet don’t get too cold in this snow… sure. Let’s do it!”