State Parks and National Parks

Olympic National Park's diverse and stunning world encompasses a fog-shrouded coast, booming surf, wave-sculpted beaches, alpine lakes, lush meadows, glaciers and temperate rain forest.

The park was established in 1938 to protect the area's primeval forests, magnificent glacier-capped mountains and wild Pacific coast, along with the famed, but shy, Roosevelt elk, a larger cousin of the Rocky Mountain elk.

Seventy-three miles of wild Pacific coast, more than 60 named glaciers, hot springs, and record-sized tree make this one of the nation's most diverse national parks.

More than 600 miles of trails weave through the park's immense forests and along mountain ridges and wilderness coastline.

Visitors can also snowshoe with a ranger, camp in any of 16 park service campgrounds and attend seminars at the Olympic Park Institute. For experienced climbers, there is the challenge of Mount Olympus.

A permit is required and a small fee is charged for overnight trips into the wilderness.

In winter, most of the park remains an undisturbed wilderness, but Hurricane Ridge and its facilities attract many cross-country skiers and some downhill skiers.

Photo credits in order: Photo by M. Woodbridge Williams, courtesy of National Park Service. Courtesy of Olympic National Park. Courtesy of Olympic National Park.