Olympic National Park

Last updated: October 30, 2023

I’m a fan of Olympic National Park because it has it ALL. Snow capped mountains, beaches, rainforests, ginormous trees, and hikes to waterfalls. I was really impressed!

First and foremost, the facts:

• Olympic National Park is 922,651 acres.
• Over 3M visitors a year
• It was established in 1938 as the 24th National Park by President Theodore Roosevelt.
• The elk that live there are named in honor of the President that established the park – Roosevelt Elk. Protecting the elk was the main reason for registering the this area as a National Park and it was almost named Elk National Park.
• It’s home to one of the few temperate rain forests in the world.
• It has eight kinds of plants and 15 animals that are found no where else on the earth!
• There are 64 trailheads

Now, what to do?

Olympic Visitor Center

Here you can get passport cancellation, grab a map and take advantage of one of their trails found right there at the visitor center. The rangers were incredibly helpful and gave me the best places to see given my time available.

Hoh Rainforest

I have never been to a rainforest prior to this and I was pleasantly surprised. Although it was a long drive in (2h), it was spectacular with the trees looming above, so I didn’t mind it all that much. Plus, I had the sunroof wide open and there was that rain smell I love so much.

The visitor center is small but helpful. They have several trails to choose from ranging from short to long, plus you can get more passport cancellations!

Here’s a short unofficial hike from one of the pull offs (surprise, I went rogue!) through the rainforest that ended up leading to a river.

Ruby Beach

The park Ranger that recommended this knew what they were talking about. Like… wow. Really. I’ve only been to beaches in the south. In my opinion, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia beaches had nothing on this Washington coast beach. The sea stacks and island made it have major magical romantic vibes. Seriously the prettiest beach I have seen to date. I’d go back in a heartbeat, and I don’t even care for beaches all that much.

I really loved how the sand was so hot but the water was so cold that the tides were causing steam to come up off the sand after the tide went back into the ocean. Extra special magical.

You can see Destruction Island about four miles out into the distance that has a lighthouse on it… I’d like to visit that one day, but wasn’t particularly prepared on this certain day with just my backpack and flip flops.

There were five other beaches along the way that I didn’t have time to stop and check out, but the coast was just a gorgeous drive all the way around. One day I’d love to go back and spend a few days exploring all the beaches along the Washington coast. There was plenty of lodging.

Big Cedar Tree

Close to Ruby Beach is Big Cedar Tree, which name is an understatement. It’s suspected to be at least 1,000 years old. It was damaged during a March 2014 storm, but is still going strong. Seriously the biggest tree I’ve ever seen.

Because of the long drive to the park and then additional driving to the beach, I didn’t get to explore much more, but this was enough to make me smile for days! There are some parks that are one and done for me, but this one is on my list to revisit given it’s diversity and other things to do that I just didn’t have time to see. All the googling in the world can’t really prepare you to know what you’re about to see until you’re actually in the park and experience it.

Have you ever been to Olympic National Park? If so, what was your favorite thing to experience? I’d love to know for my next visit!