Enormous Sitka spruce and Douglas fir, hundreds of feet high, in the Hoh and Queets rain forest valleys on the west side of the park. Thick, furry epiphyte moss and dense, vibrant vegetation give a beautiful, almost "Tolkien-esqe" enviornment in these unique temperate rain forests, which receive fifteen feet of rain per year on average from the nearby Pacific Ocean.
Summers tend to be fair and warm, with high temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees F. July, August and September are the driest months, with heavier precipitation during the rest of the year.
While winters are mild at lower elevation, with temperatures in the 30's and 40's, snowfall can be heavy in the mountains, with accumulations of up to 10 feet common.
You will want a car to explore Olympic National Park. Unlike many national parks, there are no roads through the park. In fact, the central part of the park is one of the last great roadless patches in the lower 48 states. There are a number of roads running from US 101 into the park: Hurricane Ridge, Elwha, Sol Doc, Hoh, and Quinault. The park also includes much of the Pacific coast along the peninsula which is accessible from US 101 at Klalaloch, La Push, Cape Alava and Neah Bay. The park is a big park, so think about your trip, and take driving times into account. You don't want to spend all your time on the road.
There are a number of ways of getting to Olympic National Park by car:
- from Seattle or Seatac - head south to Tacoma and cross the Tacoma Narrows to the peninsula - from Seattle downtown - take the Bainbridge Island or Bremerton ferry - from north of Seattle - take the Edmonds ferry to Kingston and continue west - from Anacortes or Whidbey Island - take the Keystone ferry from Whidbey Island to Port Townsend and continue west - from Olympia - take US 101 north along the Hood Canal - from points south, following the coast - take US 101 north through Aberdeen and near Ocean Shores - from Vancouver or Victoria, BC - take the Coho ferry from Victoria
Most of the ferries are run by the Washington State Department of Transportation[http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/], but the Coho ferry [http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/] and the Victoria Express [http://www.victoriaexpress.com/welcome.html] are run privately.
Be warned that the ferries can be backed up for two or three hours, particularly in the summer when people are heading off or returning from their vacations on the Olympic Peninsula. If you can, avoid heading west on Friday afternoons and east on Sunday evenings. The ferries usually run roughly every 50 minutes and can offer a relaxing way to cross Puget Sound.
I-5, the main road from Seattle to Tacoma can be crowded during rush hour (6-9 AM and 4-7 PM). You can check traffic conditions, and for other travel problems, at the state DOT web site [http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/].
There are scheduled flights to Port Angeles, so you can approach by air. The views of the Olympics are often fantastic, and you can arrange to rent a car at the airport.
- from Boeing Field (BFI) near Seattle - take a scheduled Kenmore Air [http://www.kenmoreair.com/] flight to Fairchild Airport (CLM)
Another approach is to fly to Victoria, BC (YYJ), then take the Coho ferry or the Victoria Express to Port Angeles and rent a car there.
- from Victoria, BC - fly to Victoria, rent a car there, or take the ferry across the Strait of San Juan de Fuca and rent a car in the U.S.
Access points from the more remote east side are Staircase (turn west off 101 in Hoodsport) or Quilcene (closer to the Hood Canal Bridge).
The best way to see the park is to drive from Aberdeen on northbound US-101 and "do the loop", ending in Olympia, taking three or four days to visit the coastal section (Kalaloch Campground or Lodge are great places to stay), the rainforest (Hoh), Ozette (an easy three mile hike in, or do the easy nine mile loop, tides permitting), Hurricane Ridge, and Staircase.
Campground reservations are recommended in the summer.
It is an 18-mile hike from the Hoh Visitor Center to the summit of Mt. Olympus with its glacier fields (the last five miles being steepest). Trails are well-maintained but good hiking boots and gear are recommended.
The most dangerous thing around this area are drunk drivers. The roads are small, perpetually wet, winding, and not banked, so driving too fast can be incredibly dangerous.
The wildlife can also be somewhat hazardous, although with a bit of common sense, most danger can be avoided. This is bear country, so make noise if you are travelling in an area with limited visibility (most of this area has very poor visibility, due to the extreme amounts of vegetation.) Also, cougars do live in Olympic National park, and are much more aggressive and dangerous than bears. That being said, the number of incidents involving mountain lions is very small, so there isn't too much to worry about. Another animal that needs to be watched out for are the elk. Although elk are herd animals, and not aggressive like their moose cousins, they can be extremely dangerous if they feel threatened. Only an idiot would threaten a herd of 50 elk though, so if you are not an idiot, you will be safe from these animals. (And if you are an idiot, then you get to take part in one of the most ancient aspects of nature - natural selection.)