Der Olympic-Nationalpark (engl. Olympic National Park) wurde 1938 gegründet und liegt im westlichen Teil des US-Bundesstaates Washington auf der Olympic-Halbinsel. Seit 1976 ist der Nationalpark auch als Biosphärenreservat der UNESCO ausgewiesen. 1981 erklärte ihn die UNESCO zum Weltnaturerbe. Da der Nationalpark auf einer abgelegenen Halbinsel liegt, haben sich hier einige Tier- und Pflanzenarten entwickeln können, die nur hier im Park vorkommen (endemische Arten). Aus diesem Grund ist der Park ein bei Biologen und Zoologen beliebtes Forschungsgebiet.
Der Nationalpark besteht aus zwei voneinander getrennten Teilen. Der Küstenabschnitt ist stark zerklüftet und oft in Nebel eingehüllt. Landeinwärts schließt sich direkt an die Strände der Wald an, was oft dazu führt, dass umgefallene Baumstämme quer über den Strand liegen. Das Kerngebiet des Parks ist die Gebirgsregion um die Olympic Mountains, die von vielen alten Gletschern bedeckt ist. Westlich daran schließen sich bis zur Parkgrenze Gemäßigter Regenwald an, hier liegt (abgesehen von Alaska und Hawaii) der regenreichste Punkt der USA.
This is our last family trip before kids go head back to school. This was a nice cool place to escape all the wildfire smoke and the hustle and bustle of city life. The Olympic National park is a rainforest full of giant green trees, packed with over 20 waterfalls, beautiful lakes, rivers, creeks, and so much more! We drove the entire peninsula. Here are a few photos from our trip through the park. See specific places for other photos.
Olympic NP was amazing for my couple! They flew in all the way from New York and wanted to spend their elopement on the lake, in the forest and on the beach! We even hiked to a waterfall in between all things! Such a well-rounded park that is a short drive to everything. Lake Crescent was my absolute favorite and Ruby Beach was super magical for sunset with the sunlight shining through almost all of the rock formations!
Olympic national park is a very large park with different scenery. You can easily spend a few hours driving every day to get to the popular spots. I'd recommend around 3 days at the park especially in the summer time when the weather is perfect. Our favorite spots were hurricane ridge on a clear day, rialto beach and hole in the wall tide pools, and crescent lake. Bring some warm clothing as the temperatures fluctuate greatly.
Absolutely breathtaking. Quite a few people on the trails, just a heads up. Everything else was magical. Walking thru the large trees and becoming one with the forest is unreal. Definitely recommend to folks visiting the state or just people that want to try something new.
What a beautiful park. The photos doesn't do justice to the experience u feel seeing the magnificent mountains with your eyes..Plan for atleast 2 days in the park..
This summer we did a cross-country trip where we had an opportunity to travel from Massachusetts all the way over to Washington and looped back. Throughout that trip we stopped at 11 National Parks and in both of my husband and my ranking of the final National Park tally Olympic National Park topped both our lists! It truly has a little bit of everything you might want to do to explore. Since we had spent a number of our visits up in the mountains right before this we decided to instead spend the vast majority of our days here over at some of the beautiful beaches like Ruby Beach as well as exploring the amazing rainforest hikes further inland. If we get an opportunity to come out this way again I can say that we would happily spend three days at least exploring Olympic National Park again!
This has got to be the most amazing national park in the US. It is supposedly the wildest. The Hoh rainforest trail, in particular, is a must. It is strenuous as you proceed, but we'll worth it. There's just nothing like it in the US. The trees, the ferns, the creeks and might rivers, the mountains, the glaciers, the beaches, the wildlife! Look at pictures if you don't believe me :)
Always love coming up here. It's beautiful and great for the family. Be aware though that you'll have to do quite a bit of climbing over rocks and large driftwood trees.