Washington State: Port Angeles and Hurricane Ridge

Overview

Click on the links to go directly to the specific days or events

Day 4 (Apr 10): Marymere Falls, Hurricane Ridge, Ferry to Whidbey Island

Day 4: Marymere Falls, Hurricane Ridge and Ferry to Whidbey Island

We had such a late night getting into Port Angeles, but we had so much we wanted to do and see in the area, so we got our things packed up fairly early and set out to find a quick breakfast, settling on McDonald's. Then, we hit the road to Marymere Falls

Marymere Falls

It was a bit of a drive to Marymere Falls, and all backtracking, as we'd driven by there the night before, but we made it back by 10am and set out to explore, starting with the short hike to the falls. The falls were so beautiful, and we were glad we had gone back there.

Lake Crescent

At the end of our short hike to Marymere Falls, we wandered around the Lake Crescent area there, which was just breathtaking! I think on our next visit, it'd be fun to get a cabin in the area and stay for a night or two to just hang out.

Sofie and Cashel were such good sports during the trip, which made it so much fun :)

We wish we had more time that day in general, but we had to catch the last ferry over to Whidbey Island at 6pm, so we had to get back on the road shortly afterwards. But our next trip to visit Daniel and Iryna, we'll have to make sure to hit the hot springs that we missed this time around, as well as more of the other incredible hikes and such that we missed.

Hurricane Ridge

We weren't sure if we'd be able to make it to Hurricane Ridge, since we were behind in time, exhausted from the trip so far, and the road had been closed that morning for "unknown reasons". But alas, we waited for 10 minutes, and the road opened back up! We were wondering aloud if it was due to an avalanche, and it very well may have been, but we'll never know.

We initially were talking about taking a "short" 1 mile hike, and were throwing it back and forth in the car on the way up, but it was laughable once we reached the top. It was FREEZING cold, the wind was blowing so hard we had to hold on to each other to make sure we didn't get blown away, and with the wind blowing so hard, the snow piles were insane! We just passed the time in the visitor center for a while, taking in the incredible views!

This beast is what they use to clear snow up here in the mountains! It's hard to believe that there is THAT much snow up there, but I would imagine some of these avalanches would even give this machine a run for its money!

Port Townsend and the Ferry to Whidbey Island

We stopped quick for some Taco Bell for lunch and fuel before heading to Port Townsend to catch the Ferry over to Whidbey Island, where Daniel, Iryna and Sofie live in Oak Harbor. We were glad Daniel had warned us that there wasn't much to actually do in Port Townsend, as we had initially toyed with the idea of spending a good chunk of a day there. It was a nice little town alright, just not really our cup of tea. We were there about an hour before heading off on the ferry.

Sofie did such a great job with Cashel during the trip. They're bound to be best buds, I'm sure :)

After an incredible, but tiring and long first part of our trip, we sure enjoyed being at Daniel and Iryna's home, unpacking for more than one night, relaxing for the next few days and catching up with the family :)

Olympic Peninsula? Yeah, we did that!