No date has been set to reopen Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park to the public following an early May fire that destroyed the day lodge there/NPS file
Though no date has been set, the National Park Service at Olympic National Park hopes to reopen Hurricane Ridge to the public this summer.
The area was closed after a fire on May 7 destroyed the 71-year-old Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge, leaving behind potentially hazardous debris and a lack of water, electricity, and restrooms. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“We are working as fast as we can to get Hurricane Ridge open for visitors,” said Superintendent Sula Jacobs. “Investigators are at the site looking into the cause of the fire. We’re also figuring out how to provide restroom to manage parking, and how to eventually remove the lodge debris.”
The park is working with Clallam Transit, the public transportation provider for Clallam County, on a plan to continue offering bus shuttle service once the area is safe to re-open.
“We want visitors to return to Hurricane Ridge, but we expect things to look different this summer. There will likely be limits on the number of vehicles that can visit the ridge each day. There will also be some days when the road is fully closed due to debris removal. We ask that visitors keep an eye on our website for any alerts,” Jacobs said.
While the mountainous Hurricane Ridge is a popular visitor destination with more than 300,000 visitors in a typical year, the 922,000-acre national park has many other accessible areas, including the Pacific Coast, the lush forests of the Elwha and Sol Duc valleys, glacial lakes and more than 600 miles of hiking trails.
