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With Olympic's nearly one million acres and three
distinct ecosystems, plan on spending at least one very full day to get
a feeling for the park's diversity. With this amount of time, visitors
often drive to Hurricane Ridge for a taste of the park's high country and
mountain vistas. From there, a three-hour drive to the west will bring
you to the Hoh Rain Forest, where over 12 feet of rain per year creates
a stunning world of huge trees and profuse greenery. Views of the Pacific
Coast and Olympic's wilderness beaches can be seen by an additional 30-40
minute drive to Rialto or Ruby Beach.
Other features include ice-free ridges and rocky
outcrops which create “habitat islands” for plants and animals. Large differences
in elevation cause the climate to change quickly. The wettest location
in the contiguous United States, Mount Olympus, receives over 220" of precipitation
a year, while just 34 miles away in the rainshadow of the mountains, the
town of Sequim, receives less than 20".
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