The diversity of terrain this park offered gave me the feels of visiting 3 national parks in 3 days. Very few places can boast of the amount of beauty and variety that ONP packs in it’s generous million acres, and there’s no reason to miss it, when exploring the beautiful pacific north west!

The gem of the Pacific Northwest, Olympic National Park  (ONP) is blessed with an eco-diversity like few others. Traveling east-to-west in the million acre park, you’ll go through glacier-capped ranges, deep blue lakes, rainforests and the rugged pacific coastline, all wrapped into an awe-inspiring wilderness package.

Where to stay?

Given how big ONP is, you would much rather stay in different parts of the park and explore that area, rather than make long drives each day.

We spent 2 out of our 3 nights in Port Angeles, and ended up wasting atleast 2 hrs each day going in and out of the park, which wasn’t the best use of our little time there.  Port Angeles is definitely a great option for the eastern/central sides of the park, but as you move towards the pacific coast, best to find hotels/airbnbs closer to the western side. We spent out last night inside the park in the Sol duc area in a tiny cabin, which was my first tiny-cabin experience (more on that later).

What to do?

Thanks to it’s immense diversity, ONP caters to all kinds of travelers – the hikers of course have a ton of short/long hikes to do, and the relaxers or travelers w/ kids can take swims or kayaks on the lake, go dipping in Sol Duc hot springs, or take short waterfall hikes, which ONP has no dearth of.
While we couldn’t do any long-ish hikes in 3 days, we touched every terrain the park has to offer and here’s what we did over our 3 days there.
Here are some short and quick hikes –

1. Marymere Falls –
   • Easy/moderate
   • 1.7 miles round trip
   • Small waterfall at the end
2. Sol Duc Falls –
   • Easy/moderate
   • 1.6 miles round trip
   • Beautiful gushing waterfallasy/moderate trail
3. Hurricane Hill Trail –
   • Easy 3 miles hike
   • Only open in summer
   • One of the most gorgeous views of the glacier-capped Hurricane ridge/ranges.
   • For non-hikers – If you don’t fancy a hike, you can drive right up the visitor center and get a panoramic view of the Olympic range.

All of these hikes are easy/moderate and have tree-cover throughout so even on super hot days, hikers won’t have to fret about sun-burn et al.

The bang for your buck

Apart from these short hikes, we also hiked the Mt. Storm King trail, which really was the king of hikes (and views), on this trip. Once in a while, you discover a total ‘pataakha'(firecracker) hike that quite literally takes your breath away, and this one did exactly that for me. Whenever there are ropes at the end to reach the summit, my excitement is at double-espresso levels. In this case, we didn’t know about the rope-ascending part, which was a fun, although kinda scary surprise. I wasn’t this nervous even when climbing the ropes at Half dome, but this one got me.
At about 3.8 miles round-trip, this is a difficult trail and isn’t for young kids or the elderly. Even after deeming ourselves moderately fit, we were panting for breath right from the base of the hike; but the steep climb and the ropes were the selling-points for me, and would be for anyone with an adventurous-hiker bone.
Once you have navigated the pull-your-ass-up-the-rope route, you have to climb a narrow boulder (major caution advised here), you’ll reach the summit of the hike and get some of the best views of Lake Crescent, so try not to miss it.

Hoh Rainforest
If you are visiting ONP, you better not come back without visiting this paradise of a place. It’s hard to imagine a lush green wonderland, so close to the otherwise cold and dry Pacific coast. Average annual rainfall of ~150 inches has carpeted the entire forest with ferns and mosses and dense tree create a velvety canopy, making it a sight like no other. Located on the western side of the Olympic Peninsula, Hoh Rainforest is more than a 2 hr drive from Port Angeles, so your best bet is to camp or stay in the La Push area, making La Push beach and the rainforest easily accessible, or at the Hoh Campground, if you intend on spending more time.  There are several short hikes you could take in the rainforest, but here are some you shouldn’t miss and can easily do within a day –

1. Hall of Mosses Trail 
   • 1 mile loop, easy and accessible to strollers/wheelchairs
   • Beautiful scenery throughout
2. Hoh River Trail
   • 32 mile train, but we turned around 3-4 miles after hitting the river crossing.
   • Easy trail but some parts may not be stroller friendly.
   • Towering trees, vegetation beautiful scenery all around
3. Spruce Nature Trail
   • 1.4 mile loop, easy
   • River crossing and lush green riverside meadows.

Here are some pictures that’ll be worth a 1000 words –

Hurricane Ridge 

There’s no better and more accessible spot to view the beautiful glacier-capped Hurricane ranges or Mt Olympus (on a clear day) than this! You can either just drive up to the Hurricane ridge visitor center or go further and take the easy 3-miler Hurricane hill trail, which starts close to the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.  The views from this place were breathtaking, to say the least. Being there just before sunset, gave us picture-perfect lighting, glistening the tree and mountain tops and the rolling fog was cherry on top!

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Tiny cabin in a forest
One of my most notable experiences about this trip was my first stay in a tiny cabin. A warm comfy bed, a tiny outdoor kitchen and shower – just the bare minimums but oh so lovely it was! Surrounded by trees from all sides, it seemed like our own private haven! Also, major kudos to our Airbnb host for stocking the cabin up with books and board games, what is one to do in a jungle after dark, amirite? P.S: no wifi or network here, so be prepared to be fully cut off from the world!

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If glamping isn’t your thing, then there are few campgrounds that are open all your round, but if visiting in summer, make sure to reserve!

Other notes and tips

While a lot of people also recommended beaches on the Pacific side of the park, we didn’t spend too much time on the coastline, given that we have seen some of the best the Pacific coastline has to offer, in Oregon and California. But if you absolutely wanted to, this blog gives a pretty comprehensive list to choose from.
Not to end this on a sour note, but food is very dear to me and I had to help readers plan better, hence putting this out here – If there was one thing slightly disappointing about ONP, it was the scarcity of food/restaurant options inside the park. Yes, Port Angeles or Forks may have a few decent restaurants, but there are very few notable or reasonably priced options inside the park. We always preferred coming back to Port Angeles for dinners, even if we were hungry hikers.  So, try eating in the town before heading in or carry food along if you are a picky eater.