DAY SEVEN
If we had been impressed with the Red Caboose B&B when we arrived, we truly fell in love with the place when we went for breakfast. Served in a 1937 art-deco dining car, our hosts Olaf and Charlotte provided an indulgent four-course meal including a freshly made cinnamon loaf, a baked apple with cornbread stuffing, a strawberry ‘dutch baby’ with lavender cream, and finally some chocolate dipped mint leaves.
It is quite possibly the best breakfast meal we have ever had.
We had a busy day ahead of us but we really needed a lie down after all that food. Luckily we were in Sequim. As Olaf explained during breakfast, this is the town with the lowest rainfall on the Olympic Peninsula and so we were able to enjoy a little sunbathing before heading off into the National Park.
We wanted to make use of the hiking boots we had packed so we soon drove up to Hurricane Ridge. The journey itself is stunning, a slow 17-mile ascent up the side of a mountain which delivers ever-more impressive views. Eventually we reached the ridge — at an elevation of over 5000 feet — and then packed up our backpacks and headed off for an afternoon hike. The views were SPECTACULAR.
The weather was so good up there that we could see for miles around, even as far as Vancouver Island in Canada. In fact, we took so many pictures on our walk along Hurricane Ridge that we had to put together a little gallery.
In the guidebook, we had read about all the amazing wild animals and wildflowers we might encounter on our hike although unfortunately we were out of season for the flowers (which tend to bloom in the Spring) and we saw more deer licking the tarmac in the carpark than we did in the forest.
Nevertheless, we had now had our first taste of hiking in the US wilderness and we were hooked.
