A Winter Walk in the Olympics

This was our third attempt to explore the Olympic Mountains in mid-winter. The first two tries had been thwarted by storms and we had ended up on the beach instead. Not this time. After procuring our permits at the Wilderness Info Center in Port Angeles, we drove up the Hurricane Ridge Road in a thick fog, emerging above the cloud layer just shy of the top.Wow! We lashed gear onto the trusty sledge, strapped on our snowshoes, shouldered our backpacks and set off into the glorious mountains for a few days of high-altitude bliss.

The third time, apparently, is the charm.