Best trails in Olympic National Park
Situated on the Olympic Peninsula, Olympic National Park has a diverse landscape ranging from rugged Pacific shoreline with tide pools to temperate rainforests as the land expands to Mount Olympus. The glaciated Olympic Mountains overlook the Hoh Rain Forest and Quinault Rain Forest, the wettest area of the continental United States.
Top trails
Visitor info
Valid for seven consecutive days. Fee admits one individual on a private, non-commercial motorcycle.
Valid for seven consecutive days. This fee admits one person without a vehicle, including hikers, bicyclists, and pedestrians. Individuals fifteen years or younger are admitted free of charge.
Valid for seven consecutive days. Applies to private, non-commercial vehicles (15 passenger capacity or less). The pass covers all vehicle occupants.
The Olympic National Park Annual Pass costs $55 and is good for entry into the park for one year from the month of purchase. Passes can be purchased at Olympic National Park visitor centers and entrance stations.
Join millions of people who enjoy our National Parks with the "America the Beautiful" National Park & Federal Recreational Lands Pass, otherwise known as the Interagency Annual Pass. The pass is valid for a year's worth of visits from the month of purchase at more than 2,000 federal recreation sites across the country.
No entrance pass required on these days:
Monday, January 20 — Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Saturday, April 19 — First day of National Park Week
Thursday, June 19 — Juneteenth National Independence Day
Monday, August 4 — Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act
Saturday, September 27 — National Public Lands Day
Tuesday, November 11 — Veterans Day
The Interagency Access Pass is accepted here.
The Olympic (Port Angeles), Hurricane Ridge, and Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Centers are accessible to visitors using mobility equipment or strollers and have wheelchair accessible restrooms and drinking fountains. Orientation films include closed captioning.
Loaner wheelchairs, assistive listening devices, and audio descriptions are available. ASL interpreters are available by reservation. Please call 360-565-3130 or email at least 2 weeks in advance to make a reservation for equipment or interpretation services.
Additional information about accessibility at Olympic National Park can be found on their website: https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/accessibility.htm.
The Olympic (Port Angeles), Hurricane Ridge, and Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Centers are accessible to visitors using mobility equipment or strollers and have wheelchair accessible restrooms and drinking fountains. Orientation films include closed captioning.
The Kalaloch Lodge, Lake Crescent Lodge, and Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort have wheelchair accessible rooms and dining rooms. The Kalaloch Lodge also has an accessible cabin.
The Hoh, Rialto Beach, Hurricane Ridge, East Beach, La Poel, North Shore, Bovee's Meadow, and Salmon Cascades Picnic Areas are wheelchair accessible with packed, level paths and surfaces and accessible restrooms (except for Hurricane Ridge).
There are accessible restrooms or vault toilets at the following trailheads: Madison Falls Trail, Beach 4, Ruby Beach, and Spruce Railroad Trail.
The Deer Park, Fairholme, Grave Creeks, Heart O’ the Hills, Hoh, Kalaloch, Mora, Ozette, Sol Duc, and Staircase Campgrounds have individual wheelchair accessible camping sites and wheelchair accessible restrooms or vault toilets.
Service animals must be on-leash throughout the park. Do not take service animals on tidal rocks.
Trail reviews for Olympic National Park
There are many different trails you can take from the spacious parking lot which houses clean restrooms and a hydration station to fill water bottles. Some of the trails are paved and accessible, so wheelchairs and walkers can still get to some pretty amazing views! As you get further back, the wildflowers are abundant and absolutely incredible! The only things more impressive than the colors of those flowers against the forest landscape are the majestic views around every turn! Hello, Canada! This was our first time into Olympic National Park, and it has been everything we hoped for and more! Can’t wait for the next great hike in this beautiful place!
This was a great hike in Olympic National Park. There aren't many flat points on this trail, so be prepared to climb. Towards the top the trail, the trail will get steeper and you'll see guide ropes. You'll need to use the ropes to make it to the top. If you have gloves, I'd recommend wearing them at this point to help grip the rope and save your hands from all of the dust. There are points where the trail narrows to a one-way, so if you can do this hike earlier in the day to avoid large crowds that would be ideal. The views at the top are great. On the way down, we also did Marymere Falls. It didn't add too much time or distance to our hike and it was worth doing. I'd recommend doing these two together rather than making a separate trip.
This is one of my favorite trails to do in the Olympic National Park. This trail has a special spot in my heart. Its a good climb and once you get to the top you tell yourself it was worth it!!
Spent a glorious four nights over the Fourth of July weekend up at Dodger Point. The road in is its usual soul sucking journey, but always worse on the way out when a juicy burger is calling your name. We stayed the first night at Humes Ranch, under the big tree at the far end of the meadow, it was glorious. We talked to a couple like-minded folks which made the evening very enjoyable. We took our time getting up in the morning and began the long, long ascent to Dodger Point. It’s about 11-ish miles, maybe a little more, my tracker said 11 my buddies tracker said 12. EG is about 4300 to the camp, add 500 for the Dodger Point lookout. The trail was good for the most part, 110 blowdowns but only 5-6 gave us pause. The trail is really overgrown with Salal once you pass the big left curve in the trail. Good news is on the way out there were folks from the Graywolf trail crew cutting the trees and salad so expect clear sailing now! In 35+ years of backpacking in the Olympics I have never heard a chainsaw until this weekend ! . Water wasn’t an issue though there is a 7 mile dry stretch that can have you worried. There were a couple of spongy mossy muddy areas to navigate , they were deep but will probably dry up as there was minimal water moving. When I was up there in 88ish, there was plenty of water at camp, and we found that to be true this time though we noticed a marked decrease in the stream flow/level just in the two days we were there. I imagine when all the snow melts off it will slow to a trickle, hence the warning from people to fill up about 2.3 miles below camp- which is what we did not knowing the situation. The water source at 2.3 from the camp we used had pretty good flow and I don’t imagine that it will dry up, though a lot of the little ones along the way certainly will. Yes there is snow in a couple areas on the trail, but it wasn’t more than a foot deep and no post holing- all told less than a football field of snow travel. Several patches disappeared while we were there so it’s melting out fast. The camp is small, really only one site, but the basin is relatively flat and clearly there has been people setting up their tents on the edges of the meadow, it’s marked by rocks. Speaking of rocks, somebody built a cairn where you turn to the camp because it’s easy to miss. The views are spectacular from camp, even more so from the point. Olympus and Ludden Peak (the trail going past Luden Peak, which connects with the cat basin primitive trail is almost impossible to navigate about a mile in) are right in your face! We could clearly see Obstruction Point and Hurricane Ridge, we could even make out the cars. The 360 views are all you want them to be! The lookout is in fantastic shape, you can peek in the window and imagine what it was like watching for fires. There is no camping on the point and that’s certainly understandable, it’s a small area. We saw 17 people (not counting the trail crew, and only 1 at Dodger) though most of them were at Humes Ranch. Speaking of Humes Ranch, there is a group site that will hold 2 to 4 tents, and then several other smaller sites- also the tree one and a few on the river. For as popular as the area is, camp sites are minimal. We stayed at Humes night 1 & 4, and both times the group site was taken by 1 person. Everyone else with 2 to 3 tents were crammed into little sites which blocked the trail and made it challenging. There was a group of three backpackers who came down Wolf Creek Trail, and they searched for a place to camp for about an hour and a half, while this single camper was sucking up the largest spot. We have certainly offered to share our campsites when selections are poor. It’s just good etiquette! So, great trip, fairly easy hiking with no exposure. We did see elk the third morning. Some bear scat- it was at least a day old. Total round trip 47-54 miles, depending on which tracker you believe! lol
This trail gave some great views! We went the week of July 4th. Definitely worth doing if you’re visiting Olympic. Besides some incline on the way up, this was an easy one. At the top we saw many deer and chipmunks. My only complaint was the numerous mosquitos
One of my favorites in Olympic. Not crowded early morning, pretty easy, but lots of wildlife to spot, great views. Fantastic trail!