Friday, December 31, 2021

Lake Angeles Snowshoe






We drove up to Heart of the Hills area of Olympic National Park to snowshoe up to Lake Angeles, 7.5 miles round trip with 2,350 ft gain. We used our snowshoes from the trailhead. We saw less than 10 other hikers today.
The forest was beautiful covered in snow.











Bridge over Ennis Creek about 1.25 miles up the trail.








Ennis Creek


Icicles under a log over Ennis Creek
We saw lots of rabbit prints near the trail. 
We saw what looked like a small black weasel running through the forest. Too fast for us to get a photo, but I think these are it's prints. 

Ice over a side creek

some of the icicles we saw along the trail

 

The trail was very quiet today.










View from the meadow before Lake Angeles



Lake Angeles










wide angle view of Lake Angels from the shore




 

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Falls View Falls Loop

After our hike at Mount Walker we stopped at the nearby closed Falls View Campground to go see Falls View Falls. We made a loop, by doing the closed campground loop to the south along with the very short loop to view the falls at the south end of the campground. overall 0.5 miles.  These snowy branches made an arch over the view loop.
We saw some large icicles on the cliffs across the river (blurry zoom photo)

Snowy Falls View Falls
Far below the Big Quilcene River

 

Mount Walker Loop


Drove up to Quilcene to hike up Mount Walker. We decided to make it a loop by hiking up the trail and coming back down the closed forest road. About 7 miles with 2,000 ft gain.  We saw 2 other hikers on the trail and 7 skiers as we hiked down the road. The gate was closed by Hwy 101. There were several inches of snow from the highway. 
Enjoyed seeing the fresh snow covering everything.
some icicles along the trail










The snow increased in depth as we continued up the trail.

Cloudy up on top of Mount Walker, not much view from the North Viewpoint.







We had some occasional glimpses of the outline of Olympic Peaks to the northeast.







From the North Viewpoint we walked down the closed road towards the South Viewpoint.










The sun tried to break through the clouds.







Snow laden branches low down over the trail right before the South Viewpoint.


The clouds obstructed the view at the South Viewpoint.
But the trees were so beautiful in this winter wonderland!
We met a skier coming up to the top of Mount Walker as we were headed down. He told us to walk in his tracks as it would help pack it down, he would be returning several times this week to keep working on it.
Viewpoint about halfway down the road. we could see the north end of Quilcene Bay,
and at the other end the Big Quilcene River below.

Some snowy trees towering above us on some rocky cliffs.

















small icicles and dripping water in a mossy niche

 

Sunday, December 19, 2021

Hurricane Hill Road Snowshoe


We drove up to Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park to snowshoe today. There weren't very many people for a nice partially sunny Sunday. We decided to snowshoe along Hurricane Hill Road as the avalanche risk was considerable today. There were nice tracks along the closed road to follow.
View towards Hurricane Hill
Lots of fresh snow the "smaller" trees are almost covered in snow.







View towards the west and the Bailey Range








Icicle covered trees and Mount Angeles to the east



Our views changed with the clouds moving around.
From the end of the Hurricane Hill Road we continued up the first hill on the ridge.
Mount Angeles from the hill on the ridge.
zoom of Mount Angeles and Klahhanne Ridge
We had a lovely lunch break up on the ridge with very little wind and a raven watching us.
zoom of the raven

some distant peaks to the west
zoom of those peaks








Heading back down toward Hurricane Road, some peaks to the south 

icicles


We decided to go off "trail" and enjoy the fresh snow in the forest, being careful of potential tree wells and steep slopes.










View to the southwest

Looking back towards Hurricane Hill
We did not come down through these covered trees, but worked our way back around to a safe route to Hurricane Hill Road
We enjoyed snowshoeing in this winter wonderland today!

View back at the main parking area.