Mine was the first vehicle up the road to Hurricane Ridge (other than ONP personell) and I was the first person on the trail to Hurricane Hill. I actually made to the summit for the first time. The snow-shoeing was quite easy as there isn't as much snow as the other times I've tried. I was able to follow what I assume is the regular summer trail which is MUCH easier than hiking the ridge above it. I really should go up there some nice summer day to see what it is like that time of year . Anyhow, it was a beautiful day and is right near the top of my 'Top Ten Winter Hikes'. The trees are wonderfully flocked solid with snow. What a sight to see !!!!!!!!! There were very few people on the hill and I had it to myself all the way up. .......this would be a very good snow-shoe trek for anyone who is just starting the sport...........

Happy to report that the trail to Hurricane Hill (former lookout location) still has great pavement except for a few brief patches of gravel. No trail problems, few bugs. THen we hiked to Mt Angeles from Hurricane Ridge. Trail also in good shape to the switchback trail. While we were there we tagged Mt Angeles on the way path. Some of it is class 2+ climbing. After dropping down to the highway on the Switchback trail, we retrieved a bike from the bushes and rode back to Hurricane Ridge to retrieve the car. My partner got to ride from there all the way down 17 miles to the ranger station -- fun! Bugs not a problem.

Carried my two-year-old to the summit of Hurricane Hill yesterday, accompanied by my very pregnant wife. It was HOT. Everyone got a little sunburned. Flowers were fantastic. Best I've ever seen. The peak should continue for at least another week. It was also fairly crowded, not nearly so bad as Hurricane Ridge, but still noticeable. Chipmunks were very bold, stealing food. Also saw a bald eagle, one marmot, and several deer. The trail is paved and clear the whole way, by the way. If you're taking a baby, I'd really suggest a stroller.

Started our trip on a beautiful sunny day. When we arrived at Hurricane Ridge gate to Olympic National Park we found the park was only open on Friday, Sat., and Sundays. It seems keeping our parks open to the public is not a high priorty to the park superintendent. We were told by the personel at the info trailer that the roads were clear and the only reason for the closure was that they lacked the personel to respond to an emergency if required. A very lame reason we though. What ever happened to ""enter at your own risk"" it works at the beach when no life guards are there. So we thought we would go to Deer Park but NO it was also closed. We were told if we did not like the park schedule we could contact our congressmen, good idea we though.

We started out with the plan to hike the Heather Meadows trail from Heart O'the Hills. It's a long drive to Port Angeles, and when we stopped at the National Park office we discovered that the Heather Meadows trail was closed (as was the Lake Angeles trail and the portion of the Klahane Ridge trail beyond the Switchback trail) because of ongoing investigative work due to the plane crash on Hurrican Ridge last Wednesday night. After the long drive, we were greatly disappointed. We didn't want to drive up to Hurricane Ridge with all the hundreds of tourists who would be up there (the Park Office was jammed with people getting ready to do the drive)and so decided that since we'd already come so far we would go further and try a hike on the Elwha River. What a great decision that was! We took the Hurricane Ridge trail from its beginning at 400 feet. It climbs rapidly through forest that is mixed with remnants of old growth (some trees showing signs of an old fire) and second growth that must have appeared after the fire. The first mile has poor tread, a couple of trees down, and is rather hard to walk, especially when coming down. The trail passes two creeks, one at a little over a mile and the other at about two miles. By then, the relentlessness of the steep grade and the darkness of the forest was beginning to make me worry that we had made a mistake. But after the next mile and a half or so the forest began to be truly beautiful, with lots of enormous first-growth firs and finally at 3.8 miles, the trail bursts into a glorious meadow, at about 4000 feet. The views down to the Elwha and Lake Mills and up to endless peaks beyond are overwhelming. We had lunch at the obvious place in that huge meadow, about 500 feet above on the interesting rocks that look from below like the summit of a peak. Of course, from the rocks you can see that you are still quite a distance from the top of the mountain. We had probably climbed over four miles by then, but the trail is 6.1 miles to the top of Hurrican Hill and has 5200 feet of elevation. We realized we had probably done enough if we were to get back at a reasonable hour. Luckily, the descent was much faster and we were back to the car around five. A great workout with a fabulous reward!