Day 36-July 24, 2012-Sequim, Port Angeles and Olympic National Park-Part 1
Short drive today of only 119 miles in 2-1/2 hours down I-5 to Tacoma and then up Rte. 16 and over a bridge over the Puget Sound to The Olympic Peninsula and the Pacific Coast Scenic Highway (101) to Port Angeles, WA.
I expected Port Angeles to be a little don’t blink kind of town but I was really surprised at the size and activity here. The first surprise was that this area is known for its lavender and we just missed the lavender farm festival. It’s mainly in Sequim (pronounced Skwim-forget the e) and the entire town of Sequim smells of lavender. We only went to one, The Purple Haze lavender farm, because of time but it was wonderful. This lavender farm is another place to stay through Harvest Hosts, through which we can stay free for one night. There are no hookups but the aroma of lavender makes it worth forgetting the closed windows and air conditioning. This area is in the “blue hole” of Washington, and because of the rain shadow effects of the Olympic Mountains their temps range between 40 and 70 and they only get 25” of rain a year compared with 140” on the other side (which we’ll see tomorrow). If it’s cloudy in Sequim the Chamber of Commerce will give you a coupon good for one sunny day when you return, that’s how sure they are of their sunny days. Quaint little town, everything’s purple. This is also Dungeness crab country, although we never got to try any.
After Sequim we drove to the Olympic Mt. National Park, a short drive from the campground but seventeen miles up to the top (over a mile high). As we climbed at first you can see Vancouver in the distance past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and then only snow covered mountains. This part of the park is the mountainous part and the top is called Hurricane Ridge, a variety of snowcapped mountains in the distance, even some snow still on the ground in places even though it was 60 degrees and the sun was really warm. At the visitor center we were greeted by a deer in the parking lot and as the afternoon went on more and more deer appeared, just meandering through the parking lot and the meadow. Oh, the meadow!!! What great wildflowers, mostly purple lupine. The smell in the meadow was great, not pine this time, but flowers. Took a walk on a short trail and found a mound of snow and the truth is Harry threw the first snowball, not me. Driving down the mountain we saw another deer and a rabbit, chipmunk and marmot who all had death wishes.
Drove into Port Angeles just to see the town and was really surprised at how busy it is. A very active waterfront, a big logging company (Nippon Paper), nice marina, lots of shops and restaurants, murals and sculptures all over town, nice beach area and the ferry that will take you 18 miles north over the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, BC, Canada.
Leaving tomorrow to circle the Peninsula and go to the other side and the two other areas of Olympic National Park, one the rain forest and one the hot springs.