Klahhane Ridge Trail

Drove up to Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park to hike the Klahhane Ridge trail, about 7.5 miles with 2,000 ft of overall gain. Fabulous views and lots of wildflowers make for a wondrous day! Pano looking south from the parking area.

raven along the sidewalk

There were some deer laying down in the meadow.

zoom of Mount Olympus

I started on the Cirque Rim Nature Trail and was happy to see vibrant wildflowers in bloom.

pano from near Sunrise Point looking north: Hurricane Hill mid left and Mount Angels to the far right:

I watched a marmot moving around in the meadow below Sunrise Point to the east, when

I heard a strange sound (between a bleat and a screech), and saw two deer bounding through the far side of the meadow below.

Most of the trail is along ridge lines with gorgeous view, here the slope was filled with Olympic onions in bloom along with larkspur.

an avalanche of avalanche lilies and Mount Angels in the background

Lots of Larkspur in the meadow with a scattering of bright paintbrush on this slope.

More Larkspur along the trail as I continue towards Klahhane Ridge

Bistort adding white highlights to this field

The trail traverses through a forest before joining the switchback trail up Klahhane Ridge, with fabulous views of the Olympic mountains to the south.

View to the north up on Klahhane Ridge. looking down to Port Angeles below.

View of Mount Angeles to the west,  up on Klahhane Ridge

More views as I continue east along Klahhane Ridge

Looking back to the west

pano to the south:

prairie smoke 

Most of the snow on this north facing slope has melted since I was here 2 weeks ago. I feel comfortable continuing along the trail to find a nice quiet spot for a lunch break.

View to the northeast, from Port Angels to the Dungeness Spit along the shore, San Juan Islands in the Sound and Mt Baker to the far right.

zoom of Mt Baker

View of Mount Angels and part of Klahhane Ridge as I start hiking back.

View from the Switchback trail looking west

As I get closer to Hurricane Ridge, I turn around for this gorgeous view of Mount Angeles and Klahhane Ridge.

Mountain views and wildflowers make me a very happy hiker.

One of the many butterflies enjoying the wildflowers today.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail: