Nature
Olympic National Park preserves a remarkably varied part of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, where Pacific coast, glacier-clad mountains, temperate rainforest, and drier eastern forests meet in a relatively compact landscape. Protection began in 1909 with Mount Olympus National Monument and expanded into a national park in 1938, later gaining UNESCO recognition and a vast wilderness designation. Its distinctiveness lies in sharp ecological contrasts, unusual geology, extensive old-growth forest, and species shaped by the peninsula’s isolation. Native communities have long ties to these lands and waters, and later conservationists helped secure protection as logging pressures grew. Despite heavy visitation, much of the park remains remote and difficult to cross.
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Washington · United States
