Day 10 - Dungeness and Hurricane Ridge 10/11

Another beautiful sunny day!! Two adventures today - Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.

One reaches the Dungeness NWR from Sequim (pronounced "squim"). Its a large area of almost Rainforest, with a half mile trail through the moss covered woods to a view of the "Dungeness Spit", the longest over-water sand bar in the world! There's a lighthouse way out on the end - but its an eleven mile round trip hike!

For our second adventure we headed up the mountain to Hurricane Ridge. Its a 17 mile drive, up a great road, to an elevation of about 5200 feet.. (That doesn't sound like much but it really is above sea level!) We recalled being up here about 20 years ago and the cold wind was blowing so hard you couldn't stand up. But today? WOW! Bright sun, clear air, temp around 50, and NO wind! It was spectacular! We enjoyed a light lunch at the snack bar and hiked around the level trails around the top.

Back down the mountain in time for dinner at the Black Bear (we had a 15% discount coupon from our hotel). Tomorrow we drive around the west side of the  park, explore some beach areas, hopefully have lunch at Quinault Lodge and end up in Astoria.

The town of Sequim seems really nice, with lots going on. (We even shopped at Costco!) A lot different from next door Port Angeles, which seemed a bit down in the dumps, blue-collar town.