A short walk from the Hurricane Ridge parking area opens into the park's prime subalpine meadows. In July and August they erupt with lupine, paintbrush, and glacier lily during an intensely brief alpine growing season. This is the best spot to watch the endemic Olympic marmot up close and to see deer grazing the slopes. Two optional hikes start nearby: the roughly three-mile Hurricane Hill route, partly paved then steep, with reliable marmot sightings; and the steep, exposed Klahhane Ridge for experienced hikers. Stay on trails and never feed wildlife.
Walk just a little way off the lot here, away from the cars, and crouch down for a second. Because if it's July or August, you're standing in the middle of one of the great short, fierce flower shows on Earth. These subalpine meadows blaze — purple lupine, scarlet and orange paintbrush, the bright yellow glacier lily that pushes up almost before the snow's finished melting. Up here the growing season is brutally brief, just a handful of alpine weeks, so every plant throws everything it's got into color all at once. It's a sprint, not a stroll. This is also the spot to actually meet the neighbors. You heard about the Olympic marmot up top — well, here's where you watch them, sprawled fat on the warm rocks, sounding off with that whistle, ducking into their burrows. And keep an eye on the open slopes for deer working the grass in the cool of the day. Now, if your legs are willing, there are two ways to go deeper, and I'll rate them straight. The Hurricane Hill walk is about three miles round trip — paved at the start, then a real steady climb — and it pays you back with views in every direction and the surest marmot-watching anywhere up here. Then there's Klahhane Ridge, which is steep, exposed, and for strong, sure-footed hikers only. Neither one's required; this tour's happy if you just stand right here in the flowers. Whatever you do — tread light, keep to the paths, and don't feed the wildlife. A fed marmot is a marmot in trouble. These few alpine acres take a lifetime to grow and a single careless boot to undo.
Photo: Olympic National Park (NPS) · Public Domain
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Hurricane Ridge's subalpine meadows are a summer spectacle, carpeted with lupine, paintbrush, and avalanche lilies that bloom in waves from late June through August. Short, well-graded nature trails such as the paved Cirque Rim and Big Meadow loops thread directly through the flowers, while the gravel High Ridge trail climbs a bit higher for more open views. These meadows are a fragile high-elevation ecosystem that hosts a remarkable number of species found nowhere else on Earth.
The star resident is the Olympic marmot, a chunky, social burrowing rodent that lives only in these mountains and nowhere else in the world. Marmots emerge as the snow melts in spring and are often seen feeding in the meadows through summer, their whistling calls carrying across the slopes. Black-tailed deer, butterflies, and birds round out the wildlife, making the short loops some of the most rewarding easy walks in Olympic National Park.
- • The Cirque Rim and Big Meadow trails are short loops (well under a mile each), paved, and largely wheelchair/stroller accessible; the High Ridge trail adds a steeper gravel option.
- • Peak wildflower bloom is roughly mid-July through August; marmots are active from snowmelt in spring through summer.
- • Requires the $30-per-vehicle 7-day park pass and an open Hurricane Ridge Road; plan 30 minutes to a couple of hours for the loops.
- • Stay on trails to protect the fragile meadows, and never feed or approach marmots and deer.
- • Pets are prohibited on these trails; bring layers, as the high meadows are cooler and windier than the lowlands.