Monday, August 17: We began the day with a nice breakfast at the restaurant right next to our hotel in Port Angeles. After a quick drive along the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca we headed inland to take the Hurricane Ridge Scenic Drive.

We spent most of the day along the drive. It seemed that each turn of the road or of the path just brought another view even more break taking than the last.

On the way up we stopped for a coffee break with some Super 8 cinnamon rolls that reminded us of the many such breaks on our Yellowstone trip two years ago.

We drove to the end of the Scenic Drive and then stopped back at the Visitor’s Center that we had passed.

After that we headed up the High Ridge Trail and then up the spur from the top of that trail to a spot called Sunrise Point. Our lunch break was along the trail with an amazing vista on all sides.

All the way to the top of Sunrise Point!

Snow capped Mt. Olympic

Our next stop for the day was the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. We took a half mile hike to the beach there. It was not a spectacular spot but a nice hike just the same. We were disappointed we could not see the old lighthouse from our vantage point or any animals in the preserve.

Our time had run out for seeing any more of the Olympic National Park since we had over 100 miles to cover to get back to our camper but we were glad we had spent the time we did on the Scenic Drive.