7 Notes on Visiting Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is one of my favorite National Parks and the most difficult to describe. It preserves a large portion of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and was designated specifically to preserve a wide diversity of landscapes and wildlife.
It’s sort of the opposite of Mt Rainier, designated to preserve exactly one mountain. Olympic has everything from snow-capped mountains with glaciers hugging the slopes to the wettest temperate rainforest on Earth to one of the longest stretches of undeveloped coastline in the United States. The flora and fauna include everything from mountain lions to killer goats to sea lions to banana slugs to some of America’s largest trees to rare ferns.
My trip there was definitely one of those trips where you just find out that properly seeing a place will take multiple trips – or even living there – to actually see and understand the landscape.
Absolutely Beautiful
The entire Park is enchanting, but what’s crazy is that it has all types of enchanting. It has sweeping mountain views, deep green forest scenes, and wide beach coastlines.
There’s even a glacier-fed lake surrounded by sheer cliffs and evergreen trees. It’s like the Park has a sampling of beauty from the Yellowstone, Great Smoky Mountains, Acadia, and Glacier all in one place.
Best for Hiking & Backpacking
The National Park Service has done a good job (err, a “commendably and controversially balanced” job) of making portions of the Park accessible to all (i.e., you can drive a car there) while also preserving most of the Park as designated Wilderness only accessible by foot or packhorse.
US Highway 1 is the only main road in the Park. It winds its way around the perimeter of the Park, with road spurs heading into the interior. There is no road through the Park. That said, hiking and backpacking are the only ways to really get deep into the Park. All the hikes we did quickly got us far from the road and deep into the Park.
Physically Demanding Park
Even though the Park Service has several main areas that are accessible, none have a true “spot” that you can just walk up to. Every area of the Park requires some moving around (notable for families and older travelers). Hurricane Ridge is steep, even from the parking lot. Ruby Beach requires steep walking and climbing over massive driftwood and rough sand. The Hoh Rainforest is walking through mud – lots of mud.
Most day hiking trails are up and down. There are a few nice nature trails, like the Kalaloch Nature Trail, but I was surprised by just how intense many of the trails were. Then again, a lot of the intensity came simply from the weather. Even in late June, there was still snow on Hurricane Ridge and plenty of 50F rain throughout the rest of the Park.
Large & Uncrowded
Olympic National Park is usually outside the Top 10 (out of 63) Most Visited National Parks. In 2021, it was 12th. It’s also a huge Park.
This means that it is incredibly uncrowded and chill, especially if you are able & willing to do best practice when visiting National Parks (go slightly off-hours, slightly off-season, and slightly off-track).
And, since Olympic has such diverse landscapes, sights, and hikes, I think it would be fairly straightforward to reverse-visit and swap in locations (e.g., Quinault for Hoh, etc).
There’s not much lodging in and around the Park. Still, again, when going slightly off-season, it was easy enough to get reservations even at Kalaloch (the only place to stay overnight on the southwest Pacific side).
Weather Than Doesn’t Want You There
I thought we were prepared for the weather, but we really weren’t. Coming from hot, humid, but also dry(?) Atlanta, I couldn’t quite fathom cold and rain (and snow!) that does not stop. We barely brought the right jackets, and we barely brought good layers. And we had to stop in Forks, Washington, to get appropriate shoes.
There is no swimming at the beach. There is no trail running. And there is definitely no mountaintop relaxation. From what I understand, July is really the only month that has clear weather. Otherwise, nature does not want you in the Park.
That said, visiting the Olympics just goes back to the old saying that there is “no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes.”
Tricky To Plan Days
One issue that I did run into is that it is pretty tricky to plan days in Olympic, no matter if it’s a day trip, one night, or several nights. Between the weather, the single winding road, and the typical visits, there is more driving within and back and forth in the Park than I expected. Forks and Port Angeles (the two gateway towns) are fairly convenient, but once you get past Sol Duc – it’s a long way with few food/lodging / restroom options.
Getting shelf-stable groceries and lots of bottled water in Port Angeles made logistics a bit more flexible. Also, being able to stay overnight in Kalaloch was a very helpful option. Otherwise, things get a bit tricky. Even though we didn’t use them, I was glad to see several Forest Service and State Park campgrounds scattered through the Peninsula.
Perfect Merger of Alaska & Appalachians
I’ve been backpacking in Alaska once. It absolutely exceeds the hype. But Alaska is also…a lot. Between the flights, the daylight, the sheer expanse, logistics, costs, Grizzly bears, etc., there’s a lot to do to visit remote wilderness areas.
I also really appreciate my Southern Appalachians, which have more diverse flora, fauna and gentler seasons. They are not as intense, but they are accessible and just lovely.
Olympic was a near-perfect merger between them. The Park has the intensity, size, and never-really-been-developed-ever-vibe (most Native peoples settled near the rivers in the Pacific Northwest) of Alaska. But it also has the diversity and accessibility of the Southern Appalachians.
I’m a huge fan, and I’m glad I got to go. I will absolutely be back—hopefully for a full backpacking trip.
