• 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.

Park Newsletter September 12, 2008

two bull elk with antlers entangled

Two bull elk spar in the Hoh Rain Forest campground.

NPS Photo by Jon Preston

Roosevelt Elk Causing Insomnia for Hoh Campers!
If you need absolute silence to get a good nights sleep, then you might consider avoiding the Hoh Rain Forest campground for the next four weeks.

Resident bull elk have begun to bugle through the evening hours. “I heard them bugle a least a dozen times last night” said visitor Bob Worton of Madison, Wisconsin.

Visitors are reminded to stay at least 100 feet from elk when observing, or photographing them.

The Hoh Rain Forest campground is known as one of the premier places in Washington State for elk watching. Viewing is especially good during the mating season which usually takes place during the weeks of September into October.

-- contributed by Jon Preston, education ranger, Hoh Rain Forest

 
construction signs along roadside

As fall approaches, construction work progresses on the Hurricane Ridge Road reconstruction project.

Henry Meyer

Weekday Closure of Hurricane Ridge Road to Begin Monday
The Hurricane Ridge Road will be closed to all traffic Monday through Thursday for the next four weeks. This closure will begin Monday, September 15 and continue through Thursday, October 16. The road will remain open Friday through Sunday during this time.

The weekday closures will facilitate the compressed timeline of the reconstruction project.

Read more.

 
gold and gray fish with white edges on dorsal and ventral fins
A four-inch coho salmon fry rests in a small creek in the Hoh Rain Forest. 
NPS Photo by Jon Preston
 

The Hoh's Hall of Mosses trail is an excellent place to look for these fish -- when there, make sure to check the creek beneath the trail bridges for these small, but beautiful young fish.

Salmon play an important role in Olympic's ecosystem -- their presence provides a source of prey and nutrients to over 137 species of animals.

 

Twilight Comes to the Hoh Rain Forest
Resource Education Ranger Jon Preston reports that, along with coho fry and bugling elk, fans of Twilight, a popular young-adult book, can be seen at the Hoh this week.

The Twilight series, by author Stephenie Meyer, is set in Forks and tells the story of a high school (human) girl who falls in love with a handsome vampire. In recent months, the Forks Chamber of Commerce has reported a huge surge in visitation as book fans come to see the "real thing".

Preston reports that over 600 Twilighters converged on the Hoh today, one day before Forks celebrates Stephenie Meyer Day.

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.