Hurricane Hill — Friday, Jul. 3, 2026

We live very near this trail. Yet somehow my husband had never hiked it. It was very gray in Port Angeles. But the WebCams showed sunny weather at the ridge.

We definitely took a little risk going on a holiday weekend. (But we also knew we could just go somewhere else or drive home easily.) We arrived early enough to not have a line at the gates. But the parking lots were quite full when we arrived. We did manage to get a spot.

They appear to be still doing work on the water system. So with the exception of the bathroom building at the main parking lot, all of the toilets are porta potties right now.

Drive careful on your way up, the baby deer are everywhere. Also the wildflowers on the drive are quite lovely, especially as you get up close to the top.

The hike is in good condition of course. It’s paved the whole way. A number of wildflowers are blooming, including wild rose, which smelled lovely.

We enjoyed watching some snoozing deer and several marmots.

The trail had a lot of people on it, but there’s plenty of space. It was nice to see folks out enjoying the long weekend.

My favorite part was watching the clouds. While it was clear on the interior of the mountains, the strait was just a bank of clouds and you could see them pouring through the valleys. Even more impressively, you could see the clouds spilling through the gap north of Mount Olympus from the Pacific side. I wish I’d had the time and a set up to make a time lapse.

On the way out, we swung through Heart of the Hills campground. There were still open spots, so we grabbed one and ended up spending the night there. For anyone looking to escape the noise of fireworks, we found out that the camp is not far enough away. They weren’t super loud, but we could definitely hear them. And our dogs could too.

All in all a lovely little close to home trip.