Where: Hurricane Ridge – Olympics
When: Easter weekend (April 11/12)
With: Andreas
Goals: Build and sleep in a snow igloo!
I had a weekend off from BoeAlps so Andreas and I decided to take advantage of this by doing a weekend camping trip. At first we weren’t sure where to go because the weather looked bad and it seemed wherever we went we would be pretty cold. We quickly got past these thoughts and moved on to the thought of snow-camping and got the idea stuck in our heads of building a snow igloo!
We woke up at 6am to eat a hot bowl of oatmeal before heading north to Port Angeles. We got to the Kirkland ferry in time to for the 7:50am departure after stopping at the store for some bagels and nutella for our lunches.
When we got to the Olympics National Park Visitor center (actually the WIC – Wilderness Information Center) we grabbed a detailed map of the area. We neglected to go inside and talk to the Rangers. We continued up the pass 17 miles to the main parking lot for hiking Hurricane Hill. We noticed a few “NO OVERNIGHT PARKING” signs on the way up and were weary of our next steps, so we stopped in the second Visitors Center, conveniently at the top of the pass, to chat to a ranger about where we should park if we want to do an overnight trip. He said we needed an overnight permit, which can be retained at the WIC. He saw our sad faces and suggested we call down to them and see if he could issue a pass, saving us the trip down and back. Apparently the WIC are the only ones able to issue the passes.
After a bit of phone time, we had confirmed our overnight permit and Andreas went down the hill 3 miles to park the car—with a maintenance guy who brought him back up to the parking lot. Andreas was also told that we may get 6-12” of new snow overnight and that the pass may be closed in the morning (currently it’s only open on the weekends anyway). They said that we’d just have to call down to the WIC and somebody would come up to open the gates for us.
Excited for new snow, we were soon following the trail to Hurricane Hill. We were super surprised how accessible the area was in general. From the parking lot, the summit was only about a mile and a half away (although it was also rated as one of the ‘most difficult’ trails from the area). The first part of the trail was actually a road, presumably open in the summer. We saw (what we assumed to be) many camping areas for summer visitors as well. We started out with no snowshoes, but this changed soon after we got off the road area.
Going across the ridge we only saw two other female snowshoers. Perfect solitude with mountains surrounding us on all sides. The weather was also really beautiful. For the most part there were bright white clouds and the sun would keep poking its head out. It was really crazy how warm it got when the sun was showing. On the final summit push, I put up the lift bars on my snowshoes. I couldn’t believe the difference it made. Suddenly the hill was much more manageable. The hill wasn’t too bad on the calves before, but once I had the lift bars up it became quite pleasurable.
At the summit we ate apples and enjoyed the view. At one point the clouds departed once again and the sun came out and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding ridges. It was really strange to see some really lush green areas that looked as high as their neighbor snow-covered mountains. I can’t wait to explore the Olympics even more—their different types of eco-systems are really intriguing.
The ranger told me that at the northernmost point of the Olympic Wilderness area you can see puffins, seals, and sometimes even whales. I would be really excited to do a beach tour. Apparently it’s a pretty tough trail and you have to make sure to match it with the tide otherwise you can easily get stuck on the trail/in an inopportune area.
We had scoped out some camping areas on the way up and decided it was time to re-find them to make sure we had enough time to set up camp. Our goal was to set up my tent (so I could make sure it was worthy of camping next weekend with BoeAlps) and also build a snow igloo (for fun) to sleep in. We also had lunch of bagels and nutella – as Doug says, it’s like a high carb donut!
As I set up the tent and snow stakes Andreas starting sawing blocks for our igloo. Once I was done with the tent I realized that the circumference of our snow igloo was large enough to fit a large family and their pets. After a bit of re-arranging, we got a reasonable circumference and started building up. We built a tunnel into the igloo and soon realized the height of our igloo was going to be much higher than our original anticipation. We started creating a much greater angle with the snow blocks but by the time we were done Andreas could almost stand up in the middle—didn’t need to worry about claustrophobia! It took around 3 hours to build it. By the end we had a pretty good system down of packing in the blocks and sizing them correctly.
We cooked a dinner of rice and cheese tortilla’s accompanied with a bottle of hot apple cider. The wind was minimal and we were able to eat outside without getting cold. By the time we finished dinner it was dark enough that we were able to spy a few stars. We were also pretty tired so we decided to retire to the igloo. Let me just say that having a blow up mattress pad (Big Anges), with a closed cell mattress pad (Thermarest Z-rest) on top made for a comfort level that was easily comparable to a real bed (if not better). I highly recommend this combination for luxurious sleeping conditions.
It probably would have been a good idea to put a tarp down below these things to ensure no melting; the next day the bottom of the mattress pad was damp but not soaking. The temp in the igloo stayed above freezing the entire night (based on the observation that a water bottle left outside the sleeping bag did not freeze). Even though it was warm at night, we still think the idea of boiling water to put at our feet would be fun next time. Instant happiness. Also, a great bonus was that we had borrowed some down booties that made for an absolutely enjoyable experience.
The next morning we woke up and assumed no new snow had fallen since nothing had come through the vent holes. Alas, we had at least 4” of new snow on the ground! The tent had collapsed in the night and had more than 6” of snow on it. Had we been sleeping in the tent, we would have woken up to shake it off.
Breaking down camp seemed to take forever because taking down the igloo was quite a job. It was completely frozen. Just as tedious was getting the snow stakes out of the ground too!
We were very glad we brought snowshoes on the trip. Going back on the ridge we went through some huge drifts. It was also pretty windy, but still felt safer than trying to traverse the side of the ridge where it was much more slippery with the new powder.
Fortunately it didn’t take too long to get back into the wooded area, free of the gusting wind. Once we came upon the visitor center we were not surprised to find that the road had been closed. Fortunately, the visitor center had an indoor shelter area with a phone and rest room where we had lunch and phoned down to the WIC to ask how we should get to our car/ get our car past the closed gate. They told us to walk down the hill and a ranger would open the gate for us.
As we walked across the parking lot we walked through some drifts that were about 6 feet high and a moment later we’d be down to ½” of snow. It was very strange. We couldn’t believe this happened overnight. We got less than a mile down the road and saw a ranger truck. The ranger offered to drive us to our car and then open the gate for us to cross. We took her up on the offer and by the time we got to the car, there was no snow on the road, and it was slightly raining.
Overall, iIt was such a pleasant experience – all the help we got with getting to our car (before and after the trip), storing it at the correct lot, and making sure we got home safely was executed so well by the rangers. Although I missed out on the annual easter candy hunt at home in Vermont, I was super excited about the weekend. Such amazing weather the first day, and a really fun adventure overall.
On the way home we stopped at an Easter party and stuffed ourselves making up for all the calories we burned on the weekend.
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