• Olympic: Three Parks in One

    Olympic

    National Park Washington

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  • Olympic Hot Springs Road Closed

    The Elwha Valley's Olympic Hot Springs Road is closed to public entry beyond the Altair Campground during removal of the Glines Canyon Dam. Olympic Hot Springs is not accessible from the Elwha.

  • Elwha River Closures

    Boating is prohibited on the Elwha River from Upper Lake Mills Trail downstream to the Highway 112 bridge, except for the stretch between Altair Campground and the Highway 101 bridge.

  • Changes to Visitor Services Due to Sequestration

    Due to mandatory, across the board budget cuts, some visitor services at Olympic National Park have changed. See the Plan Your Visit section for more information.

Hiking & Backpacking

When you visit the Olympic Wilderness, whether to clamber along the roaring beaches of the wilderness coast, to immerse yourself in the freshness and healing of the old-growth forests, or to push yourself up onto the peaks and ridges of the high country, keep in mind that this remnant of wild America is fragile.

This year, nearly 40,000 people will camp in the Olympic Wilderness and several hundred thousand people will take day hikes. The Wilderness Trip Planner is a useful resource with in-depth descriptions of trails, camping, precautions, and tips.

If we treat Olympic with respect, we can preserve its wildness and grandeur for future generations.

In 1988, Congress designated 95% of Olympic National Park as Wilderness. To find out more about wilderness, wilderness designation and the Wilderness Act, click here.

You can help preserve the beauty of this wilderness by learning how to Leave-No-Trace and Stop the Spread of Invasive Plants.

Did You Know?

white flower

Does this flower look familiar?  The bunchberry, a common groundcover of Olympic's lowland forest, is closely related to the dogwood trees found throughout North America.