Hiking at Hurricane Ridge
Collin and I woke the next morning to a sunshine-filled day. And in Washington that seems like a lucky break!
I am the type of person that creates an itinerary for every trip we go on. I like to have different things for us to do depending on our moods. Collin loves this planning quality of mine. So for us, it works. Others like more spontaneity which is great! That morning I had planned that we would hike Hurricane Ridge (and few other things that didn't make the cut). We decided to have a big breakfast and hit the trails. Sausage, eggs, fruit, fresh baked bread and jam and two steaming mugs of coffee.
Now, I will tell you this was our first ever hiking experience together. We packed up our backpack with trail mix, fruit, beef jerky, water, and headed out with our GPS headed up the mountain. We drove to the park entrance and proceeded to drive up and up and up.
Driving up the mountain.
We stopped once thinking that we had gone too far but decided to keep going. We made it to the top and boy was it chilly and windy! I was already thinking that I didn't wear enough clothes. We saw the sign for Wolf Creek trail.
Hitting the trail.
The first sights were breathtaking.
We hiked down the trail for about 3 hours until our legs we begging us to turn around. We found a suitable fallen tree and took out our munchies. Best picnic spot, hands down. We munched on our snacks and tried to regain some strength for the hike back up.
We could have stared at that view for hours.
Now, being novices at this I think we may have forgotten that the hike back up was going to be worse. Uphill is always worse. Man oh man my endurance was tested that day. Collin was perfectly fine, no shock there.
The hike up was slower (and quieter) than the hike down. I was more focused on getting air to my lungs.
A family of deer crossed our path and would not move even after Collin's many attempts. He finally persuaded them to take a few steps over so that we could pass. They were beautiful though.
My legs were killing me by the time we got back up but it was definitely worth it.
Tired feet.
Collin was very encouraging and agreed to go in front the entire way. It's always easier to follow when hiking. You just put one foot in front of the other, watch the person in front, and don't look ahead at how steep that incline is! I'm definitely game for adventurous vacations!
After finally making it back up the mountain we were famished and exhausted. I had booked two massages that we were more than ready for. I heartily encourage massages on any vacation.
We happened to be in town the weekend of the annual Dungeness Crab Festival. Port Angeles really goes all out for this annual event. Tents were set up from all the local eateries to share in the festivities and delicious-ness. We opted for fish and chips and clam chowder after seeing how long some of the lines were. The smaller lines had just as delicious food and we didn't have to wait an hour for crab legs.
Sustenance! Fish and Chips!
After stuffing ourselves and relaxing our legs from the long day we headed back to the hotel, hopped in the hot tub, and relaxed to gear up for the next day's adventures.
