I. Am. So. Behind. My posting has taken a back seat to anything and everything else in life. Which is absolutely fine, but when I have a handful of hikes I want to document in my online diary it’s much harder when I am months behind. The hike I want to share today is from July 27th, nearly two months ago. This is a hike I had heard about a few years ago, and finally got around to prioritizing.
Duncan and I set out to hike the Klahhane Ridge in Olympic National Park. I had been to this area of the park before (the Hurricane Ridge entrance), but only a couple of times. I had forgotten how breathtaking this part of the Olympics were, and no matter which hike you embark on from the Hurricane Ridge area you will see sweeping views of mountains and trees.
The Klahhane Ridge trail has two starting locations. The steeper and more direct route begins at the Switchback Trail. For a longer and more gradual trail to the ridge you can start from the Hurricane Ridge main parking lot. We chose the Switchback Trail, which only has maybe 5-8 parking spots, so it’s best to arrive early.
We arrived before 0730 and easily snagged a parking spot. We saw a few other hikers, but had the trail mostly to ourselves on the way up. The trail to the ridge from the parking lot is short, but once you are on the ridge there are multiple options for continuing on. My main goal was to hike this trail until we were able to see Lake Angeles.
We could have hiked all the way DOWN to Lake Angeles, but this means we would have had to go back up (obviously.)
The ridge itself is mild, but for someone like me who is afraid of thin trails with drop offs there were a few spots that gave me pause. I managed to get past them, and then we entered the back side of the ridge where there were open meadows with zero drop offs. We sat for some lunch before continuing on to where we could see Lake Angeles from above.
Overall the trail was very quiet which was surprising for a Sunday mid summer.
I would have loved to continue on to the bottom of the lake, but I have hiked to Lake Angeles many times before and ultimately did not need to see it again. It wasn’t worth the effort of going down and then back up. Although my ego always wants to “complete” a trail. This trail had multiple branch offs for somewhat of a choose your own adventure trail so I didn’t feel tooooo bad skipping the lake.
We turned around and walked a little bit on another trail before calling it a day and heading back to the car. We ended with just over 8 miles, and just under 3k feet of elevation gain for the day.
One of my favorite things to do when visiting a national park is checking out the visitor center. Sadly the Hurricane Ridge visitor center burned down in 2023, but they do have a smaller ranger station down the road. We stopped in here on the way out to browse the trinkets before heading back home. I don’t typically buy anything, I just like to look.
We ended the day filling up our bellies at Red Robin. Somehow this place doesn’t leave me feeling like a total bag of garbage after eating their food, and for that I go every so often. I can’t say the same for Duncan, but that’s likely because he drank a milkshake meant for two despite being sensitive to dairy. LOL. Alas, sometimes it’s worth the pain.
Q: Do you like national park visitor centers?
Blissfulbritt 
21 thoughts on “Klahhane Ridge”
Sheree
Looks a great hike! Much better for you to be hiking than writing, so don’t worry. My posts are never contemporaneous.
Brittany
You are so right! I try to choose reading over blogging as well, until I get the itch to write and then I’ll come write!
Sheree
Great plan
Bonnie Rae
Love this hike! One of my favorites out that way. I’m not a huge fan of visitor centers, preferring less people, but I can understand the interest. (I am always on the lookout for benchmarks though! ) Thanks for sharing this one.
Brittany
Totally understand. I don’t love the throngs of people at the visitor centers. But I still have to look. 🤣 thankfully the ones here lately haven’t been too bad.
mariezhuikov
I don’t blame you one bit for not hiking down/up to that lake. Looks like great views.
Brittany
I don’t regret not doing it. It would have made for an exhausting drive home!
Peg
Beautiful pictures! Thanks for this blog, it’s nice to see such beauty right now.
Brittany
I agree! A nice reprieve from the chaos of the world.
Duncan
That turned out to be one of my favorite hikes of the season, The views were incredible at all times! I flatter myself that I have learned my lesson with the milkshake, it’s enough to be a standalone meal.
Here’s to a few more adventures before winter arrives!
XOXO
Brittany
I really enjoyed this one. It will definitely be one we do again! And after we can go to RR and skip the milkshake.
xOOxxO
Grace @ Cultural Life
I admire you for getting your hikes written up in the same year you did them! I’ve been wanting to write up my Corfu Trail experience and that was in May 2023 😄
Your hike looks glorious. That landscape is just so beautiful.
I’m not such a fan of visitor centres. Usually, I find, the food they sell isn’t very nutritious and is always overpriced. They’re good for a loo stop though! (Fun fact: my first job as a teenager was waitressing at a National Park visitor centre café).
Brittany
I laughed out loud at the first thing you wrote. The struggle can be so real trying to sit down and write!!
I agree about the food at the visitors centers, I never eat the food. You’d have to roll me up the mountain if I did. I don’t buy anything when I visit, unless it’s a new park and then I will buy a pin. I collect national park pins. I don’t know why. Maybe because they’re small and easy to maintain a minimalistic life while still having a piece of something? Haha.
What a cool first job!! I spent a summer working in a restaurant at Yellowstone in 2018 and it was an amazing experience. However I wouldn’t eat the food. 🤣 I had to make it work for 5 months myself with the employee dining room. I almost didn’t go because of the food situation (I have a lot of food issues), but I was able to make it work Lolol.
Roy McCarthy
Awesome pics Britt. As to visitor centres, from information received I’d be avoiding them if possible. Especially if there are other free and legal ways to visit the attraction. I’m probably thinking the Cliffs of Moher (Ireland) and Stonehenge (England).
Brittany
I can understand why you’d want to avoid them. I did go into the Cliffs of Moher visitor center area as well as Giant’s Causeway when I visited Ireland and Northern Ireland, but I had no idea there was an alternative way to visit the Cliffs of Moher.
Some of the national parks in America have free entrance areas, but the bigger ones do have a pay to enter location. I have an annual pass that allows me to enter parks and also access forest lands which makes it a little easier.
Next time I visit Ireland (one of my top two favorite European countries I’ve been to), I’ll have to ask you for all the local tips!
gpavants
Yes I do. You never know what you find.
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Brittany
That’s how I feel! I hardly ever buy things, but something about the stuff inside is enjoyable to see. I’m normally not a big fan of excessive consumerism either.
gpavants
Happy trails to you.
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Amy
The photos you take on your hikes are always so stunning!! I’m right there with you about narrow trails and steep drop-offs. Maybe even more so… There’s a decent chance that I’d freeze and refuse to budge any further — the apprehension and fear is real! Checking out the visitor center at the end is such a great idea. I love that!
Brittany
On the way back with this one I had to sort of just run past the scary part. It ended up being less scary on the way back, but still. Sometimes the worst part is the anxiety of knowing I have to go back down a sketchy spot. I will dwell on it the entire rest of the way up a trail if I have passes something scary. HA.
Amy
YES!!! The anticipation makes the anxiety a million times worse. You are a much braver soul than I am!!