During our stay at Crescent Beach, WA, we decided to spend a day at Olympic National Park. It was overcast and cool, so the views from Hurricane Ridge were not clear, but they were impressive nonetheless.
Alpine meadows were still buried in a few feet of snow, so hiking up on Hurricane Ridge was limited. We discovered an old abandoned ski lift up top and Heidi nearly ran right smack into a black-tailed deer while Nicole was chasing her along one of the footpaths. We witnessed a few woolly white mountain goats foraging on the mountaintop, deer munching on new grass, and a handful of brave wildflowers poking through the spring earth. The growing season is so short at that altitude that the 6 inch tall sapling in the photo by Nicole's hand was over 100 years old! It was just us and some seniors from a bus tour out on this cool Wednesday afternoon, so we had the mountains to ourselves which is a nice perk of travelling at this time of year.
The Visitors' Centre was a treat for the kids with lots to learn and a whole classroom of nature-related games to play. They completed their booklets and took their Junior Ranger pledge with Ranger Rod who was delightful. The girls donned their badges proudly and we headed back to Crescent Beach for another night sleeping beside the Pacific.
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