47.8021° N, 123.6044° W
EXPLORE OUR COMPREHENSIVE OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK ADVENTURE GUIDE THAT COVERS EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VISITING THIS STUNNING NATIONAL PARK; INCLUDING, HOW TO GET THERE, THE BEST TIME TO VISIT AND THE TOP PLACES TO GO.
Olympic National Park might just be one of our all-time favorite national parks. Yes, we know, controversial. But honestly, this stunning national park in the heart of the Pacific Northwest truly has so much to offer that it would honestly be criminal to only give it one day to explore (we think you need at least 3, if not a whole week). Snow-capped mountains, glaciated valleys, lush forests, rugged coasts, and hundreds of miles of trails. What more do you need?
But all of that can start to seem a bit overwhelming when you really sit down to plan your trip to the massive national park. At least that is how we felt the first time we planned to head out and explore it. Luckily, this comprehensive adventure travel guide outlines literally everything you need to know about exploring Olympic National Park. From how to get there, what to bring with you, to just seven amazing destinations that are 100% worth visiting.
So if you are looking to plan a trip out to the amazing Olympic National Park (which you obviously should), then this is definitely the planning guide for you.
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☼ THE BEST TIME TO VISIT OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK 🎒 WHAT GEAR TO BRING TO OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
📌 HOW TO GET TO OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK 🥾 TOP 7 THINGS TO SEE IN OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
🏕 WHERE TO STAY IN OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
\\ Fast Facts About Olympic National Park
| Year Established: Mount Olympus National Monument was established in 1909, then the area became a national park in 1938.
| Where is Olympic National Park: it is located in northwest Washington state on the Olympic Peninsula.
| Overall Size: 922,650 acres (95% of that is designated as "wilderness")
| Number of Annual Visitors: 2.5 million people visited in 2020
| Cost to Enter Olympic National Park: $30 per private vehicle, $25 per motorcycle, $15 per person (all valid for 7 days).
| Best For: hiking, backpacking, wildlife watching
\\ Important Things to Know About Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a very large, very diverse national park. Because of this, it is important to figure out which area you want to explore. Below is a quick breakdown of some of the most important things to know about visiting and adventuring in Olympic National Park.
THE 3 DIFFERENT AREAS OF OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK
Olympic National Park is split into three different areas: the mountains, the rainforests and the coast. Each area is beautiful in its own right, and also full of amazing things to do. If you plan to visit the national park and only have one day to explore, we recommend focusing on only one of the three areas. Below is a brief breakdown of each one.
THE MOUNTAINS
The Olympic Mountains are part of the much bigger Pacific Coastal Range, which extends both north into Canada and south down into Oregon and California. The tallest mountain in the Olympic Mountains is Mount Olympus, which sits at 7,965 feet or 2,428 meters tall. Likewise, Mount Olympus is almost fully covered in glaciers - giving it an epic appearance (in total, there are about 184 glaciers crowning the Olympic peaks). On a clear day, you can see the Olympic Mountains from downtown Seattle and even as far away as Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier (though it is likely you will see Mount Constance and not Mount Olympus).
Common animals in the Olympic mountains include black bears, cougars/mountain lions, Roosevelt elk, mule deer, marmots, beaver and banana slugs. Also, mountain goats are quite common - though they are not native. Instead, they were introduced in the 1920s for the sole purpose of hunting. Today, the mountain goats are known to be quite aggressive (so much so that some trails close during peak goat season). Because of this, and the fact that they are causing the loss of native vegetation and soil erosion, there has been a major effort to remove the mountain goats from the national park and instead place them in the nearby Cascade mountains.
The best places to explore the beauty of the Olympic National Park mountains are Hurricane Ridge, the Sol Duc Valley (where you can spend some time backpacking and soaking in hot springs), the Elwha Valley and the Enchantment Valley. Likewise, many of the top backpacking trails in the national park head deep into the Olympic Mountains.
THE RAINFORESTS
The lush forests found in the Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Bogachiel valleys are some of the most spectacular examples of primeval temperate rain forests in the whole lower 48 states. While today very few of these forests exist (and what does is mostly under strict protection), in the past, these types of lush forests stretched all the way from Oregon up into southern Alaska.
How are these forests so lush? Well, in a word, rain. And lots of it. In fact, the western side of the national park is one of the wettest places in the whole contiguous United States. In one year, the Hoh Rainforest sees between 140 and 167 inches of precipitation. That insane amount of rain in turn leads to a dense growth of epiphytes (plants growing on other plants). The most common epiphytes in this area include thick green mosses, spike mosses, ferns and lichens. Altogether, these plants are what give the four rain forests such a lush feel.