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Olympic National Park is one of three National Parks in Washington State. It’s located in the Northwest corner of the state and features an array of habitats — most notably beautiful coastlines and areas of temperate rainforest such as the Hoh Rainforest. Because we live a short drive away, it’s one of the parks we’ve spent more time in — but not enough. We’ll add more to this entry as we visit more in the future.
Table of Contents
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Olympic National Park facts
- The park consists of mountainous, alpine areas, coastline and rainforest to the West, and to the east drier forests and meadows to the East.
- It covers 1442 square miles of land.
- Because of the difference in zones, here, weather may be different at various places within the park. Please check the NPS website for road conditions before you go.
- Camping is available at many sites in the park. Most are on a reservation system from Recreation.gov and Summer spots fill up early! I’ve camped within the park later in the fall and normally-full hookup spots in late October were mostly wide open. But note that you’re subject to very wet weather at that time of year!
- Pets are only welcome on certain trails in the park. You can find out which ones here.
Location
Below is the location of Olympic National Park. Please do not use the location below for GPS directions, it’s just the park location. As we add more locations and resources here, we’ll likely add another map with park entrances as well as our favorite things to do in the park.
If you have a map pin you’d like to add, you can add a map location here.
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State and is a wonderful area featuring coastlines, rainforests, and lots of outdoor recreational opportunities.
Routes
While we’ve done some hiking and cycling in the park, we’ve not recorded our routes there and while we’ve biked nearby, it’s outside of the park bounds (though we REALLY want to ride our bikes to Olympic Hot Springs next Summer).
If we post any routes in the park, we’ll post them here.
If you have a route you’d like to add you can add a route here.
Photos
Below are photos that we, or visitors, have taken in Olympic National Park.
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Books and Guides
Below are some recommended guides and maps for visiting the park.
- Scale: 1 : 100000
- Folded Dimensions: 4.25 x 9.25 in
- Waterproof: yes
- Recommended Use: hiking, backpacking in Washington
- National Geographic Maps (Author)
- Burlingame, Jeff (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 264 Pages – 02/06/2024 (Publication Date) – Moon Travel (Publisher)
- Hiking Olympic Np 3rd
- Molvar, Erik (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 288 Pages – 07/01/2015 (Publication Date) – Falcon Guides (Publisher)
- Molvar, Erik (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 288 Pages – 05/15/2022 (Publication Date) – Falcon Guides (Publisher)
- Romano, Craig (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 384 Pages – 11/04/2016 (Publication Date) – Mountaineers Books (Publisher)
- Molvar, Erik (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 120 Pages – 08/15/2022 (Publication Date) – Falcon Guides (Publisher)
Questions and Answers
Below is a forum for asking (and answering) questions, you can also find it on our forums page. If you have an answer to a posted question, please feel free to post your answer.
[wpforo item=”forum” id=”25″]Wikipedia and List of On and Off-Site Related Resources
When available, we import some Wikipedia information to supplement terms. If available, you’ll find that below followed by a list of on and offsite related articles and automatically linked articles on our website that mention this term. Note that you’ll need to scroll down below the Wikipedia stuff to find the related content list. We hope to change this in the future.
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Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier east side. Within the park there are three distinct ecosystems, including subalpine forest and wildflower meadow, temperate forest, and the rugged Pacific coast.
| Olympic National Park | |
|---|---|
 Cedar Creek and Abbey Island from Ruby Beach | |
  Location in Washington  Location in the United States | |
| Location | Jefferson, Clallam, Mason, and Grays Harbor counties, Washington, United States |
| Nearest city | Port Angeles |
| Coordinates | 47°58′10″N 123°29′55″W / 47.96935°N 123.49856°W |
| Area | 922,650 acres (3,733.8 km2) |
| Established | June 29, 1938 |
| Visitors | 2,432,972 (in 2022) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Olympic National Park |
| Criteria | Natural: vii, ix |
| Reference | 151 |
| Inscription | 1981 (5th Session) |
President Theodore Roosevelt originally designated the park as Mount Olympus National Monument on March 2, 1909. The monument was re-designated a national park by Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 29, 1938. In 1976, Olympic National Park was designated by UNESCO as an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1981 as a World Heritage Site. In 1988, Congress designated 95 percent of the park (1,370 square miles (3,500 km2)) as the Olympic Wilderness, which was renamed Daniel J. Evans Wilderness in honor of the former Washington state Governor and U.S. Senator Daniel J. Evans in 2017. During his tenure in the Senate, Evans co-sponsored the 1988 bill that created the state's wilderness areas. It is the largest wilderness area in Washington.
