I had to make a second part to my previous blog concerning my weekend spent in Olympic National Park. The following day after staying at Lake Crescent Lodge, I headed up to the Olympic Mountain Range. This is a coastal range, and one can drive up there in less than an hour from the main highway along the northern Olympic Peninsula and be in a totally different world. As it stands, the area at Hurricane Ridge above 5,000 ft is still snowbound in May, which is perfectly normal. If you want good photos of the range without shooting directly into the sun, plan on arriving early in the morning, because the sun arcs a direct path across the range throughout the day, creating problems for proper photo exposure. I concentrated on photographing the most western end of the range, away from the sun, and my photos came out satisfactorily.

After my visit to the high altitudes, I drove back down to sea level in a relatively short period of time. I decided to make a stop at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, located in Sequim. I had visited once before, but did not hike the trail down to the sand spit that is such a popular destination for locals and tourists. The natural sand spit is one of the longest in the world. A small fee is required to access the sand spit. The trail down to the spit is half a mile long. There are a few viewing platforms along the way to snap off some good photos of the spit, with a light house at the very end and Mount Baker far off in the distance. If one feels up to a long hike, the distance to the light house is 5.5 miles. Consulting a tide table for such a trip would be a wise idea, since conditions and waves can change quickly. Here’s a few shots from the top of the bluffs, looking back at the Olympic Mountains.

The following photos are of the natural sand spit, along with the light house and Mount Baker in the distance. What a great time and trip I had!

All images property of Peggy A Thompson