Last Sunday, Rick and I took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to visit Kay and Butch and to meet their friend, Theresa.  We all drove over to Hurricane Ridge.  The day was absolutely beautiful.  Hurricane Ridge is  within the Olympic National Park.   We hiked the trails and enjoyed the subalpine meadows, the lupine in full bloom, the remnants of snow, and the blacktail deer grazing.  We saw a lot of deer!

Hurricane Ridge offers fantastic views as you can see from the photos in this blog.  It was my first time there, though it had been high on my “must visit/see/hike” list for years.

Beautiful view of the Olympics!

The snow has been slow to melt this year.  It has been a cool summer in this part of the country!  This also means the wildflowers are coming out super late this year.  All blooms seem to be one month to 6 weeks behind schedule.  In the photo below, you can see Indian paintbrush, yarrow, and campanula.

Wildflowers of the Olympics!

Kay and Theresa. Kay throwing snow balls from this remnant snow field.

At one point I saw a fearless marmot who almost came up to greet Theresa and me. As I was marveling at the marmot’s audacity and cuteness, I could hear Butch cautioning, “Don’t feed him.”  And Rick added, “Don’t let him climb up your legs!”  Seriously!  Here is the adorable little rascal marmot:

Mamot (photo taken by Rick)

One of the most photogenic couples: Kay and Butch

another gorgeous view of the Olympics

Snag

On the trail: Photo taken by Rick

Friends... and Lupines in full bloom