We had a little time after breakfast to work on blog posts and social media, then we were off to Coupeville via the Whidbey Scenic Isle Way where we drove onto the ferry to take us to Port Townsend.
We left the car and went topside to stand out front and watch where we were going. And get cold and wind-blown on the overcast day. Scott took a picture of the view from inside the car on the ferry, then drove the car off. He’s the silver car on the right and I walked off to get pictures of him driving off the ferry. 
Had a forgettable lunch and drove to Port Angeles, then into Olympic National Park. The park is divided into three distinct areas: mountain, forest, and coast and we have plans to see them all, but this first day we are in the mountain area. We stopped at the Olympic NP Visitor Center for maps, a magnet and bookmark, then onward. We drove up and up in socked-in conditions and couldn’t see much except what was right by the road. Finally we got high enough to break out of the cloud cover and into sun and blue sky. And the views were gorgeous.
We drove to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center and took in the beautiful view of the mountain range and tried the short trail there. 
We got to the first little lookout just fine but the rest of the trail was pretty much covered with snow, which surprised us because it was a paved trail right by the VC. You’d think it would be clear, but no. 
So we drove on a little ways to the Hurricane Hill Trail and started up that trail. It was a great hike with stunning views of large mountains and deep valleys.There was a spot on the ridge where we could look over both sides and see a deep valley on one side and a deeper one on the other side with the long line of the Olympic Mountains stretched across behind and it was breathtaking.
We hiked up a long way but gave up after crossing several snow fields covering the trail. Even with my boots and poles I’m not super steady on snow, so Scott decided the better part of valor was to concede the top. We didn’t feel too bad because we had a great hike and saw some lovely views so we were happy.
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