HURRICANE. HILL TRAIL Length 7.1 mi/9.8 km Access Whiskey Bend Road USGS Maps Elwha; Hurricane Hill Agency Olympic National Park One of the most interesting trails leading from low to high country, this route is seldom used today because Hurricane Ridge is readily accessible by automobile (see Hurricane Ridge Road description in North Slope chapter). Before the Forest Service built a road to the ridge in the 1930s, the trail was one of several paths used by hikers to reach the meadowland. In fact, a glorious high-country traverse was possible-one could ascend the trail, and then follow the ridge many miles, descending via another route. Most people think the trail merely gives access to the ridge, and why hike up when they can drive? How misinformed they are! The trail provides outstanding views, and it is particularly attractive during Indian summer. Of course, it is a grueling ascent, gaining more than a mile in altitude. Therefore, if the party has two vehicles at its disposal, it may savor the trail but avoid the climb by first leaving one car at the lower trailhead, driving in the other to Hurricane Ridge, hiking the paved Hurricane Hill Trail, then walking this trail down to the Elwha. The trail begins (400 ft/122 m) on the Whiskey Bend Road, just beyond the Elwha Ranger Station. At first one can hear the Elwha River, but the sound gradually fades. The forest is primarily Douglas-fir and western red cedar, the ground an unbroken carpet of sword ferns, with devil's club and maidenhair ferns growing in the damper places. The trail crosses a fairly large stream (ca. 1.0 mi/1.6 km), then another (ca. 2.0 mi/3.2 km), the last one on this route. Above this point the dense undergrowth disappears, but the tree trunks are covered with stag horn lichen. As the trail climbs higher, the forest appears to have been manicured by nature. The firs are old, with a rough appearance. Only a few fallen trees lie upon the ground, which is fairly open, covered with vanilla leaf, and a specimen now and then of bancberry and twisted stalk. Along the edge of the forest are displays of cow parsnip and ocean spray. The route breaks out into the first meadow (3.8 mi/6.1 km), and then zigzags upward, climbing a forested ridge. The path makes sweeping switchbacks across steep slopes, through a big, grassy meadow where all is quiet and peaceful, and most hikers will pause here to enjoy the panorama. The valleys of several creeks - Cat, Boulder, and Long - are in sight, and Lake Mills shimmers in the afternoon sunshine. The path then traverses a stand of sub alpine firs. Beyond this point the views of the interior Olympics arc remarkable from various spots and include Mount Anderson and the Eel Glacier. The trail traverses meadowland on the south side of the northwest ridge of Hurricane Hill, then the terrain levels somewhat at a large meadow (5.0 mi/8.1 km), where one can look out across to the Bailey Range. Boulders composed of hard basalt lie scattered about. The hiker is rewarded with a superlative vista, in this country of splendid views, at a point (5.4 mi/8.7 km) that overlooks the lower Elwha, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island beyond. The scene in the opposite direction is equally striking and includes the tip of Mount Olympus poking above the Bailey Range. After traversing open slopes on the south side of the ridge, where the ground is matted with juniper, the trail ascends a narrow ridge overgrown with sub alpine firs. Here the terrain drops sharply on the north to a little cirque choked with boulders. Griff Creek is down below, and the Elwha River Range rises beyond. The trail leaves the ridge again, crossing a meadow on the south side, and presently comes to a junction with the Hurricane Hill Lookout Trail (6.1 mi/9.8 km; 5640 ft/1719 m). Beyond this point the two trails merge and climb to the summit of Hurricane Hill (6.3 mi/10.1 km; 5757 ft/1755 in). (See Hurricane Hill Lookout Trail for a description of the summit panorama.)