Elevation Gain: 800 ft.
Time: 11:00 am - 3:30 pm
Weather: Cold, chilly day. Snow off and on in the morning, finally clearing out a little by mid-afternoon.
Second weekend in a row I was out snowshoeing. I went out a week ago on Sunday, but when I got home to blog about it I was sick. I spent all night praying to the porcelain god, and thought I would go ahead and let my Denver hike be the 18th week and I could let my trip up to the MTTA-High Hut be just for me.
But this hike to Hurricane Hill was the hike I wanted to do last Sunday. It was the first snowshoe hike described in my new Snowshoe Routes book. I got up early this morning, went an picked up a friend, hit the store, filled up with gas, and was on the road by 7:30 am. We were in Port Angeles by 9:45 am and had driven through lots of weather, including snow. Checked in at the Visitor's Center and the road was open and we went for it. Got to the park entrance and chained-up. The car did great with chains, but the driving up the Hurricane Ridge Road was tough. We were driving basically in white-out conditions.
Finally got up to Hurricane Ridge Visitor's Center, and all the stress and worries of the day melted away. Strange considering it was so cold nothing else was melting. My friend and I signed in with rangers and set off for the top of the hill about 3 miles away. It was great fun. It was better visibility on the road walking the 1.3 miles to the Hurricane Hill trailhead.
The hike from here was steep and pretty intense. We started climbing up, and I had a tough go for about 45 minutes. We found ourselves moving up and over hills, and the we started trailing t the left, carving out a path on the slope. After sliding a bit too much for the steepness of the slope, we climbed back up on to the ridge. Up among the trees, the walking got a lot easier. When we came out into the open, we began a monster walk up the slope to the top Hurricane hill. It was like straight out of some crazy climbing movie. My friend had bombed it out there, allowing me to follow his tracks, but I could not see him in front of me.
We got to the top and had a hot cup of tea and a snack. I warmed up my beard and cleaned off the ice. It was a good walk up, despite being able to only see my immediate surroundings. The Olympics are always beautiful, but the majesty of Olympus and the other peaks were hidden from my view today. I will be back up this hill again before the end of the season. Next time, I will try to plan so weather will be clear.
On the way down, I hit a bit of a skid, and my snowshoe was compromised. Thankfully, I had some duct tape, and we were able to fix it, at least for the walk out. The walk out was tough on my ankles and my feet. As we got back to the road, the skies were beginning to clear. It was a fantastic day.
Orchid: Walking out on the road to start the hike. I don't know why, but I felt great at that moment.
Onion: Broken snowshoe.
Picture:
Google Map
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