Olympic
June 2021 | Park 20
Sometimes J & I try to list our top five favorite National Parks, or the five we’d like to return to if we could. It always feels impossible to choose favorites. Each park is unique and I don’t like to compare them. That said… Olympic is always in my top five.
We first visited in 2021, over our birthday week, and it has since been one of the top parks I’ve longed to return to and continue exploring. Olympic might actually be a perfect place (dramatic, I know, but bear with me). It is generally cited as the national park with the most diverse ecosystems within its boundaries. The concentration of northwest coastline, old growth temperate rainforest, and mountains absolutely enthralls me — somehow, all my favorite things (ocean! forest! mountains!) are present on this beautiful peninsula. Visitors have the opportunity to spot orcas and elk, bears and sea otters, butterflies and foxes. We saw a deer hopping along the beach and raccoons scavenging in the ocean during low tide. You can trek through or ski down the mountains and soak in Sol Duc Hot Springs and backpack the coast and be visited by snowshoe hares in the rainforest.
Have I drawn up potential retirement plans to someday move to this general vicinity? I mean, yes. What is not to love about this place?
Strong memories from our days there include seeing said snowshoe hares gently moving through the forest ferns on our first evening of camping, their noses quivering tentatively; the full moon rising over the ocean from our beach campsite; and pulling ourselves up and over the headlands via hanging ropes and ladders along the coast. I sincerely hope to return to explore more of the mountainous regions, backpack further up the coast, visit/stay at the hot springs, and delve deeper into the Hoh Rainforest. Someday, hopefully!
Pictured below:
Hoh River and Hoh Rainforest.
Rialto Beach, Chilean Memorial beach campsite + surrounding area.
A few snaps from a day hike further north up the coast toward the Norwegian Memorial.
