Olympic National Park

By Adrienne It’s an unpublished secret of fall in the Pacific Northwest. During the summer months, much of its coastline is shrouded in fog, veiling the vistas and damping the skies. But in September and October the air becomes cool and dry. The fog lifts by early morning, and sunshine, and then sunsets,...

By Jeff Mayor Staff from Olympic National Park will host a public workshop on Thursday to discuss the park’s recent decision to close the Sunrise Snowplay Area near Hurricane Ridge. The open house workshop will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, 3002 Mount Angeles Roa...

By kmcookephoto Beach Rocks - Ruby Beach, Olympic NP The amazingly flat rocks on Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park, WA. Beach Rocks - Ruby Beach, Olympic NP The amazingly flat rocks on Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park

By Jeff Mayor The Constance Pass Trail from the Dosewallips Trail to the park boundary. The Main Fork Dosewallips Trail from the junction of Gray Wolf Pass to the Dose Forks and The West Fork Dosewallips Trail from Honeymoon Meadows to Dose Forks.

By enokidancer Forest. Water. Is this place – the Olympic Peninsula – some kind of a verdant dream? What did the first European-American people think? That it was an unending, idyllic forest? That it would go on forever? Producing? Probably.  Passing Lake Crescent. Deep and blue.

By rowebro Update time! So last weekend we decided to backpack the High Divide Trail in Olympic National Park. We were supposed to do six miles on the Saturday, camp for the night, and then fourteen miles the next day to finish (for the mathematically challenged that’s twenty total).

By prakrutipix This was a low tide morning at Ruby Beach on the WA coast. There was a beautiful seastar on one of the rocks. Most of the time the seastars are in gaps between rocks, often at an angle where its difficult to get a good composition. In this case the seastar was flat on top of an exposed face of rock that...

By mygrandmasue The August 2009 Sunset Magazine has a great article by Peter Fish and photographed by Ian Shive on National Parks With Amazing Views: Grand Teton National Park, Yosemite National Park, Channel Islands National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Yellowstone National Park. It has an on...

By Jeff Mayor For information about alternative destinations within the park, people may go to the park Web site or call the Olympic National Park Visitor Center at 360-565-3130. The recorded Road and Weather Hotline is updated throughout the day with changes and can be reached by calling 360-565-31...

By Jack Graham We got up to Mt Rainier late on the morning in Friday. The mountain was socked in (fog) but we did get some great images of the wildflowers and the area. Since we exhausted the possibilities there due to the weather, we left after lunch for Olympic, via Seattle, and Port Townsend ferry for Olymp...

By Craig Hill The Dosewallips Road/Trail is CLOSED at the Olympic National Forest’s Elkhorn Campground due to the Constance Fire because the fire is releasing burning logs and debris downslope onto the road/trail. This closure includes the Lake Constance Trail, The Main Fork Dosewallips to Greywo...

By Jeff Mayor Despite an onshore flow of cooler marine air in the lowlands of the Olympic Peninsula, very dry conditions continue in the upper elevations of Olympic National Park. Eight firefighters are now assigned to the Ten Mile Fire which straddles the Duckabush Trail on the southeast slopes of th...

By Jeff Mayor Two lightning-caused fires are burning in the upper Duckabush and Dosewallips River valleys, in the eastern section of Olympic National Park. One fire is 10 acres while the second is one acre. Both are located deep within the park and in wilderness areas. Here is the rest of the park news rele...

By Ciara Mr. Wonderful and I traveled to Forks this past weekend for a little Twilight action and some hiking in the beautiful Olympic National Park. I’d been to Forks as a child. As a literary tourist, it was much more entertaining. Stay tuned for a list of things to do in Forks.

By chamimage I highly recommend the Olympics for a summer visit. There is Hurricane Ridge, with vistas of snow-capped peaks and habituated deer with huge antlers to photograph. There are some of the best tide pool beaches in the northwest. And everybody seems to like the Hoh Rain Forest the best, with it...

By Jeff Mayor Hoh Rain Forest Nearby campgrounds along the Upper Hoh Road include the Minnie Peterson and Willoughby Creek campgrounds, both operated by the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Another nearby option is the Bogachiel State Park located between the Upper Hoh Road and the city...

By seattlespayne We drove up to the Olympic National Park last weekend, and got some great stuff. It was a beautiful day! We caught the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and drove the northwest route to Port Angeles, along Puget Sound. When we got into Port Angeles, we turned south, into the park, along a...

By Jeff Mayor At Lake Crescent Lodge, Fairholme Store and Hurricane Ridge, park visitors can receive a free reusable eco-friendly shopping bag. At all Olympic Peninsula ARAMARK locations, visitors can get a free souvenir water bottle with retail purchase of $35 or more.

 WA Olympic National Park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said this week that the project had not gone out to bid, so it is not known when construction will start. It is expected to be completed by the end of the summer, she said. Maynes said the 950-foot-long, ...

 WA Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park, said only that local park officials would await guidelines from the Interior Department. Sleeping bag, toothbrush, change of underwear . . . loaded guns. In a stinging defeat for gun-control advocates ...

Since we will be staying two days in Tofino in Vancouver Island, should we skip the Olympic National Park and spend the time exploring Seattle instead? Would Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Rainier be worth the detour from a food and scenery perspective? ...

  United States A: The best overall map of Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park is Pargeter's Revised Oblique Projection Map for the Olympic Mountains, published by retired park ranger Richard A. Pargeter. It isn't as good for navigation as a Custom ...

SUMMARY: McNulty's classic guide to the Olympic National Park of Washington State has been throughly revised to include topics such as the effects of global warming and the latest archaeological research on the region. Schmalzer, Sigrid. ...

By Jeff Mayor In this Web cam view from the Jackson Visitor Center, you can see crews are busy clearing snow from the parking lot. But some folks are going to be surprised when they come back to their vehicles. At Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge Road is open and conditions have improved at the visito...

 WA Hurricane Ridge received four inches of snow on Thursday, according to the Olympic National Park. The ship arrived from Seattle and docked at Terminal No. 1 -- where oil tankers are typically seen docked for maintenance and repairs -- at 7 am and left ...

By Jeff Mayor A large section of the Dosewallips Road (Forest Service Road 2610) washed out in a 2002 storm, cutting off access to the park’s Dosewallips recreation facilities and the forest’s Elkhorn Campground. Dosewallips is one of only two developed areas on the east side of the park that can be rea...

 WA The Dosewallips Road is Jefferson County's only vehicular road to Olympic National Park and one of two vehicular access routes to the park on the east side. It passes through Olympic National Forest territory before entering the national park and the ...

By Jeff Mayor Nearly 90 inches of snow still blankets Hurricane Ridge however, and snow showers are predicted this week, so visitors should call the park’s Road and Weather Hotline at 360-565-3131 or stop by the Olympic National Park Visitor Center for current information about road and weather con...

 WA Removing the two Elwha River dams in Olympic National Park definitely falls in the job-creation category and should be good news for a part of the state that was hurting even before the current recession. More than 200 jobs will be created beginning ...

 WA SEQUIM -- Construction of an Olympic National Park greenhouse -- in which plants will be grown to revegetate areas laid bare by the removal of two dams on the Elwha River -- is expected to begin in the summer. The National Park Service has selected ... Seattle Times - Peninsula Daily

By Jeff Mayor In all, more than $62 million will fund 33 Park Service projects in Washington. 726,000: To repair of storm damaged trails 101,000: To build an accessible trailhead at the new Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center Olympic 804,000: To replace electrical conduit on Hurricane Ridge Road

By lauravanderpool The One Square Inch Red Stone Marker Pretty much every summer during my childhood my family went to the Olympic National Park for our big vacation. You might think, EVERY YEAR? Didn’t you get sick of the same place? If you are thinking that, then you’ve never been there. We usually stayed at Mo...

 United States The effect of climate change on the parks is easy to see after each flood and by measuring receding glaciers. "We should care because our resources are finite," said Karen Gustin, superintendent at Olympic National Park. "Being good stewards of our ...

While others consider the Hoh River and think of its magnificent temperate rain forests, I contemplate a big, meandering, blue-green river that flows out of Olympic National Park, where I've landed many steelhead, and had a huge one get away. ...

By Jeff Mayor Since then, the Boulder Creek trail has remained a population hiking route for visitors to the Olympic Hot Springs area and wilderness hikers, the release said. Mail: Superintendent – Boulder Creek Rehabilitation, Olympic National Park, 600 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles, WA 98362

 VA The ripples extend throughout what is now Olympic National Park, leading to a boom in elk populations, overbrowsing of shrubs and trees, and erosion so severe it has altered the very nature of the rivers, says a team of Oregon State University ...

Related articles from Peninsula Daily, TheNewsTribune.com, The Olympian and more.

By Jeff Mayor The visitor center is located at 3002 Mount Angeles Road, Port Angeles. It is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily. Click here for current road and weather information about Hurricane Ridge Road, then click on “Hurricane Ridge Current Conditions.”

By Craig Hill You can be assured of two things if you teach your kids how to ski and snowboard at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. “Kids who learn to ski here, can ski anywhere,” said Lori Lynn Gray, head of the Hurricane Ridge ski and snowboard school. “You have to hike to get to the good stuff.

By Jeff Mayor Olympic National Park seems to have fared quite well in the storm. The major issue is the Hoh River Road, Maynes said. There is some damage from water coming over the road outside the park, plus debris and water on the road in one stretch inside the park.

By Jeff Mayor Parks in the southwest corner of the state were hardest hit, said spokeswoman Virginia Painter. Here is a quick look at some of the popular recreation areas in the South Sound. Co-worker Craig Hill is talking to folks at Mount Rainier and should be posting an udpate soon. Gifford Pinchot Nati...

By Jeff Mayor Mount Rainier National Park Local rivers Olympic National Park The worst damage is on the Hoh Valley Road on Jefferson County land outside the park, where there have been some major washouts, said park chief ranger Kevin Hendricks. Olympic Coast

By Jeff Mayor This afternoon's forecast calls for rainfall totals by Wednesday night to be 6 to 10 inches on the coast and up to 20 inches on the west facing slopes of the Olympic Mountains. John Preston, a ranger based at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, left work earlier than normal this afternoon.

By Jeff Mayor I just spoke to Randy King, assistant park superintendent, and he said the park is expected to receive three inches of rain in the coming days. He said staffers will be monitoring streams and key roads to watch for flooding. King said Mount Rainier should fare better than Olympic National Pa...

 United States - Nov 9, 2008 Begin at the park's Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center, about a half-hour drive southeast of Forks. Short nature trails loop from the small visitor center. ... Lodging on Olympic Peninsula includes motels, lodges, B&B's and ... Seattle Times all 2 news articles

By brandibratrude Northwest Is Most Polarized Region In U.S. Why we don’t all get along. ERIC DE PLACE Vancouver: A Sustainability Geek’s Dream Top five ideas to borrow from up North CLARK WILLIAMS-DERRY The Wolves of Olympic National Park What an 80 year absence means to Olympic rivers. ERIC DE PLACE

By thejinx Yeah, there’s really no way to grasp this image except at full size, so do feel free to click the thumbnail and view close-up.  This photo was pieced together by hand in Photoshop out of five 16:9 pictures I took at the top of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.  There’s really no other wa...

By Guest Another amazing attraction of the Olympic National Park is the opportunity it offers for backpacking along the coastline. The coastline is long and provides idyllic conditions for those who like a simple walk. ...

By nina That was a lovely post, Nina. I went to Olympic National Park in 1993 and had forgotten about the slugs. Thanks for jogging the memory! I, too, was fascinated by the rain forest and delighted with the solitude of the coast. ...

It was a beautiful, clear day as we drove up to Hurricane Ridge for some stunning alpine views. They have another large visitor center and gift shop up there, as well as a picnic area. There were some crazy, spandex-clad bike riders up ...

What distinguishes backpacking in Olympic National Park from any other park in the Lower 48? The ability to go from one of the planet's lushest temperate rainforests to alpine wildflower meadows beneath glaciated peaks. ...