With rugged beaches, rainforests, and snowcapped mountains, Olympic National Park has so much to offer. Check out our recommendations for your next adventure.
STAY
Stay in the historic and rustic Lake Quinault Lodge--named after the indigenous tribe that occupies the land. Kick back at the edge of Lake Quinault in the center of a luscious forest.
MUST HIKE
Sol Duc Falls
For a leisurely stroll through the rainforest, try the 1.6-mile jaunt to Sol Duc Falls. But if you're craving more mosses and ferns (and honestly, who isn't?), then take the longer Lover's Lane Trail. A 6-mile loop to the falls.
MUST SEE
Hoh Rainforest
Hoh Rainforest is the most carefully preserved temperate rainforest in the Northern Hemisphere. It's also the is home to the best banana slugs you've ever seen. Take the hall of mosses scenic path while you're there.
TAKE IN THE SUNSET
Hurricane Ridge/Ruby Beach
For sunrise, drive up the Hurricane Ridge Road to the peak. You'll pass through dense fog as you reach the top. If you're fortunate, the sky will clear out, and a single tear will roll down your cheek in gratitude as you watch the new day start. For sunset, head to Ruby Beach to get the best views of the sun dropping into the Pacific behind picturesque haystack rocks.
SCENIC DRIVE
Highway 101
Drive the Pacific Coast Byway, a charismatic slingshot around the park. Pick up the drive in Queets and end in Port Angeles. Make sure you pull off the highway often to take in the sights like the Tree of Life and Devil's Punchbowl at Lake Crescent.
SHH… IT’S SECRET
One Square Inch of Silence
Pad lightly to the One Square Inch of Silence and meditate in the most peaceful place in the U.S., known as a sanctuary of silence and located in the Hoh Rainforest. Shhhh, hear that? That’s what nothing sounds like.
STOP FOR SNACKS
Salty Girls Seafood
Drive about 30 minutes east of Port Angeles to Salty Girls Seafood in Sequim. They have some of the tastiest oysters and cocktails around.
CRACK A COLD ONE
Rialto Beach
Find a warm spot on the sand to stretch out and congratulate yourself on a day well done. Rialto Beach has all the coastline goodies you've been looking for: oceanic haystacks, coastal forest, tide pools, and BONUS: a tree graveyard!
SELFIE SPOT
Marymere Falls
One reviewer called Marymere Falls "not breathtaking," while another called it "mind-blowing." See for yourself, and be sure to pose with the waterfall behind you--hashtag blessed.
FOR ADVENTURERS
Dust off your trekking poles, and head out on the Klahhane Ridge Trail to Lake Angeles--a lofty 12.6-mile hike that takes you up 4,500 vertical feet. It's steep, it's narrow, and it's gravely in places. But much like the elevation, the stoke is high.
There is usually always snow on Hurricane Ridge Road, so strap on your crampons and do some alpine climbing. Don’t forget your ice axe. If that’s too extreme, try snow shoeing or tubing.
Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort for access to three mineral hot spring soaking pools and a freshwater pool that comes from snow melt and rain. Literally bathe in the water of Olympic National Park.