• Olympic: Three Parks in One

    Olympic

    National Park Washington

There are park alerts in effect.
show Alerts »

  • 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.

Wilderness School

Wilderness School (WS) is a work-in-progress youth summer program. Right now, Olympic is collaborating with park partners, NatureBridge and the Student Conservation Association (SCA), to provide a group of high school youth from diverse local communities in Washington State with a life-changing experience at our park. Youth and their leaders will live and work for two weeks increasing their environmental and historical knowledge of this iconic park while participating in conservation and environmental science projects. In doing so, they will develop deep personal connections with Olympic NP and hopefully return for years to come as park stewards.

"[I]t's made me realize how much I love the outdoors and makes me want to get back out to the woods as soon as possible. [A]lso, it made me view the world differently."
- SCA Crew Member Sara Wall, speaking of her experience last summer at Olympic NP.

This program is a natural progression of Pathways for Youth at Olympic National Park. Accomplished WS students are on the right track to complete their senior culminating project (Marine Debris Ambassadors or Adopt-A-Trail Youth Crew) at Olympic and eventually move into volunteer internships and seasonal employment with the National Park Service.

Check back for updates on this program. As funding becomes available, we will announce an application deadline.

Did You Know?

snow covered forest and meadow

That endemic Olympic snow moles are scurrying beneath this blanket of snow?  Olympic National Park's Hurricane Ridge is blanketed with over ten feet of snow for most of the winter, providing water for summer and protection for snow moles in winter.