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Copyright © Craig Romano/The Mountaineers Books Sunrise Ridge
Sunrise Ridge delivers the same jaw-slacking views as Hurricane Hill, but without the asphalt and crowds. Chances are also good that on Sunrise Ridge you'll encounter some resident wildlife, especially in the morning. Deer, bear, coyote, and the ubiquitous chipmunk all make themselves at home along this delightful trail. And wildflowers-they grow in profusion, from magenta paintbrush, to spreading phlox, penstemon, lupine, bistort, and larkspur. When your nose isn't glued to the ground admiring a myriad of blossoms, your eyes will be strained from scanning the horizons.
From the parking lot, head north on the Mount Angeles Trail, the first 0.3 mile following the paved High Ridge Nature Trail. Real tread begins after cresting a small knoll. Just beyond, in a small saddle, come to a junction. The trail left leads 0.1 mile to Sunrise Point, a 5500-foot viewpoint on the ridge. It's a nice spot, but it gets better down the trail. Carry on, dropping 250 feet from the saddle, leaving the hubbub of Hurricane Ridge behind. Undulating between groves of subalpine fir and resplendent alpine meadows, the trail works its way over and around a handful of knolls. Gaze north, out across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to massive Vancouver Island and its scads of mountains. Scan the strait eastward to snowy Mount Baker rising above a myriad of islands and inlets. Turn your attention south to the Olympic interior, to an emerald sea punctuated by craggy summits adorned in ice and snow. Mount Olympus, the centerpiece of this magnificent wilderness setting, dominates the southwestern horizon. Of course, it's impossible to ignore the imposing peak in front of you-the one growing taller with each step-6454-foot Mount Angeles. At 2.6 miles the trail delivers you right to the base of this locally prominent peak. A climbers path takes off to the left, while the Mount Angeles Trail continues right, skirting the southern slopes of the rocky mountain. Feel free to venture a ways up the steep climbers path through more meadows and subalpine forest. Stop when the trail reaches scree, unless you're trained and prepared to make a class 3 scramble. In any case, the views along Sunrise Ridge are as good as any from Mount Angeles.
Driving Directions:
From Port Angeles leave US 101 near milepost 249, following Race Street south 1.2 miles to Hurricane Ridge Road (Heart o' the Hills Parkway) and passing the Olympic National Park Visitors Center and Wilderness Information Center. Proceed on the Hurricane Ridge Road for 17.5 miles to the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center. The trail begins on the north side of the large parking area. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
Issues:
Water on trail | Snow on trail
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This hike is well described in Craig Romano's book, "DayHiking Olympic Peninsula". The trail begins ...
This hike is well described in Craig Romano's book, "DayHiking Olympic Peninsula". The trail begins on the High Ridge Nature Trail at Hurricane Ridge. At 0.3 miles reach a junction and go right on the Mt Angeles Trail dropping 250 feet. The trail then begins a gradual climb through beautiful wildflower meadows with Mt Angeles appearing larger as you continue along the trail.360 degree views include the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island, San Juan Islands, Mt Baker, and Hurricane Ridge area with Mt Olympus the dominant peak. The trail descends at about 2 miles and at this point there is some easily crossed snow on the trail. The trail now goes a short distance through groves of subalpine fir where Jacob's ladder, lupine, arnica and tiger lilies were blooming. The trail soon opens up again and at 2.6 miles you reach the base of Mt Angeles where 2 unmarked climber paths appear. The left one appeared to be marked off. We continued another 0.5 mile to the junction with the Switchback Trail. Here we turned around for a total of 6.1 miles. We did do the 0.1 trail to Sunrise Point on our return. From here we saw a bear in the meadow below the ski lift. This may have been the bear we watched walk up the hill to the Sunrise Point Ridge as we were nearing the junction on our return. Other wildflowers seen were mountain owl clover, various shades of orange and red paintbrush, a few yellow paintbrush, escalloped onions, harebells, larkspur, and many others I either forgot or couldn't identify! A fawn, doe and buck were seen at the junction with the Sunrise Point trail.
Day hike
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Wildflowers blooming
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After setting up camp at Heart of the Hills CG, we drove to Hurricane Ridge where many were walking ...
After setting up camp at Heart of the Hills CG, we drove to Hurricane Ridge where many were walking the High Ridge Nature Trail and enjoying the lupine, bistort and sedge in the meadows above the parking lot. We hiked north from the parking lot on the Mt Angeles Trail which is paved for the first .3 mile. After the paved section you climb a bit more to a junction. The left trail and the crowds go in 0.1 mile to Sunset Point. We continued right on the Mt Angeles trail descending 250 ft to begin the ridge walk which climbs gradually to the base of Mt Angeles. Because of our late start, we probably hiked only 2 miles before having to return to the TH. Flowers and the views were beautiful!--Lupine, paintbrush, scalloped onion, sickle-top lousewort, and mountain owl-clover were some of the flowers seen. We saw a large black bear in 2 different meadows below and to the left of the trail. We saw a total of 5 fawns and several doe feeding in the lupine meadows above the parking lot. We hope to return soon to hike the complete trail to Mt Angeles.
Mount Angeles, Sunrise Ridge
— Aug 06, 2011
— austineats
Day hike
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This hike is near Disney like at first. A paved trail, deer that contentedly munch flowers just a fe...
This hike is near Disney like at first. A paved trail, deer that contentedly munch flowers just a few feet from the parking lot and views that can not be beat. After twenty minutes on the trail the crowds thin out. Frequently the trail side hills and on occasion it rides the top of the ridge. Snow exists at one spot where there is a drop in elevation.
Mount Angeles is accessed via a side trail a few miles along the ridge. The trail climbs steeply and is quite dry and slick. After a bit a meadow is reached and wildflowers abound. The trail cuts up the hillside. Rotten loose rocks make up most of the trail. It isn't difficult, just loose. Snowshoe/XC Ski
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The road up to Hurricane Ridge was more or less clear, with some patches of ice and a lot of gravel....
The road up to Hurricane Ridge was more or less clear, with some patches of ice and a lot of gravel. The parking lot looked busy, but was only half full at 10am.
Climbed up to Pt 5471 (where the ski lift ends) along the right outer rim of the ski area. Followed the ridge over a few bumps to Pt 5539, and returned the same way. Conditions were great. Didn't look like there was much risk of avalanches along the ridge, but there were large cornices on the north side of the ridge. Encountered several skiers (and later some snowshoers) on the ridge, but it looked a lot less crowded than the Hurricane Hill route. Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/[…]/SunriseRidgeFebruary2011 Tracklog: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69134994 Day hike
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Stats: 9.3 miles, 2,000 feet gain. Each of these can also be done as separate (out and back) hikes, ...
Stats: 9.3 miles, 2,000 feet gain. Each of these can also be done as separate (out and back) hikes, but it's a great combo if you can get a ride between the visitor center and Switchback trailheads. Total took me 3 1/4 hours with stops.
Sunrise Ridge trail starts at the entrance side of the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center parking lot. It climbs through the flower meadows to Sunrise Point, a nice little .1 mile side view. The trail then hugs the ridge with constant views of the Olympics from almost their height. Also great views over Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Canada. This trail has it all – wildflowers, unbeatable views, and when I was there, complete solitude! I had intended to just do Sunrise Ridge, but my hiking partner started feeling sick and had to turn back after 2 miles. He encouraged me to continue on and get even more adventure by joining on the Klahhane Ridge trail I’d intended to do the next morning. He’d pick me up at Switchback Trail at a set time. I readily agreed to this scheme and continued on. At just over 2.5 miles, there are a couple very steep, narrow trails up Mt. Angeles (marked with posts but no signs + looks like the first of the two is blocked off). Stay on the main trail to continue to the junction with Switchback Trail (which you probably noticed from Hurricane Ridge Road on your way up). I checked my watch and headed up, up, up fairly relentlessly. I still saw not another soul except chipmunks, birds, and insects (no biters, though). The views are more an more stunning as you hike toward the face of Mt. Angeles that is striated with curvy lines and every shade of reds and grays, set off by indigo skies above and verdant green dotted with late wildflowers below. It’s easy to forget you’re climbing with such wonder to admire! 1.4 miles (and 1,400 feet) after the Switchback Trail sign, reach Victor Pass and stop to soak in the views!!! 360 degrees of something amazing at every point of the compass! Even a marmot or two to keep you company. I continued on for a little over a mile, getting great views from every step. This would be even more stunning earlier with the flower meadows in full bloom. But then I couldn’t argue with the temperature in the 70s, cooled by a nice breeze. Back down the ridge in about half the time as up, I knee-crunched it down the Switchback Trail and saw my first humans – a couple from Texas about halfway up Switchback who were headed to Klahhane. After assuring that they had completely understood the superiority of our state, I wished them a great hike and did the last of 12 switchbacks, arriving about 45 minutes before my ride did – plenty of time to filter water from the ice-cold and delicious streamlets tumbling to the trailhead. Timing: left HRVC parking lot at 7:30, 8:55 got to Switchback trail cutoff, 9:30 at Victor Pass, turned around at 9:55 and got back to Switchback junction at 10:30 and to the trailhead at 10:45. I paused for lots of pictures and stopped for a real lookaround at least 5 times just to admire the views (and marmots). Flowers in bloom: phlox, fireweed, paintbrush (red, orange, fuscia, and white!), lupine still blooming, larkspur, yarrow, cow parsnip, asphodel, arnica, purple aster, white and purple heather, Scottish bluebells, many more I don’t know or forgot, and obvious that earlier there were countless more in bloom. For more photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/[…]/ (Hurricane Ridge Set), look for “Sunrise Ridge - Klahhane Ridge” tags. |
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