A couple of unfortunate developments at a couple of my favorite places to go in Washington State over summer. Hurricane Ridge is closed indefinitely due to a fire earlier this month that burnt down the visitor center. The panoramic views of the Olympic mountains are great from up here, so it will be a real shame if the area remains closed over the summer. The fact that the visitor center was undergoing renovations would seem to make clear the cause of the fire, but apparently the whole area is still closed while they investigate. I hope they'll be able to reopen with temporary facilities. And then a mudslide took out a huge section of the road, including a bridge, up to Johnston Ridge Observatory. This is the observatory that has fantastic views of Mt St. Helens and the blast zone. I suspect this road might be closed for a while (at least a year) - which is a real shame, as this was somewhere I definitely wanted to go back to this summer. Apparently there were some unlucky people trapped on the observatory side of the mudslide, and they had to be airlifted out (leaving behind their cars!).
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