Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
7
The Olympic Peninsula
T
he rugged and remote Olympic
Peninsula, located in the extreme
northwestern corner of Washington
and home to Olympic National Park,
was one of the last places in the conti-
nental United States to be explored.
Its impenetrable, rain-soaked forests
and steep, glacier-carved mountains
effectively restricted settlement to the
peninsula's more accessible coastal
regions.
Though much of the Olympic
Peninsula was designated a National
Forest Preserve in 1897, and in 1909
became a national monument, it was
not until 1938 that the heart of
the peninsula—the jagged, snow-
capped Olympic Mountains—became
Olympic National Park. This region
was originally preserved in order to
protect the area's rapidly dwindling
herds of Roosevelt elk, which are
named for President Theodore Roo-
sevelt (who was responsible for the
area becoming a national monument).
At the time the preserve was created,
these elk herds were being decimated
by commercial hunters.
Today, however, Olympic National
Park, which is roughly the size of
Rhode Island, is far more than an elk
reserve. It is recognized as one of the
world's most important wild ecosys-
tems. The park is unique in the con-
tiguous United States for its temperate
rainforests, which are found in the
west-facing valleys of the Hoh, Queets,
Bogachiel, Clearwater, and Quinault
rivers. In these valleys, rainfall can
exceed 150 inches per year, trees (Sitka
spruce, western red cedar, Douglas fir,
and western hemlock) grow nearly
300 feet tall, and mosses enshroud the
limbs of big-leaf maples.
Within a few short miles of the
park's rainforests, the Olympic Moun-
tains rise up to an alpine zone where
no trees grow at all, and above these
alpine meadows rises the 7,965-foot
glacier-clad summit of Mount Olym-
pus. Together, elevation and heavy
snowfall (the rain of lower elevations is
replaced by snow at higher elevations)
combine to form 60 glaciers within
the park. It is these glaciers that have
carved the Olympic Mountains into
the jagged peaks that mesmerize visi-
tors and beckon to hikers and climbers.
Rugged and spectacular sections of the
coast have also been preserved as part
of the national park, and the offshore
waters are designated as the Olympic
Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
With fewer than a dozen roads,
none of which leads more than a few
miles into the park, Olympic National
Park is, for the most part, inaccessible
to the casual visitor. Only two roads
penetrate the high country, and only
one of these is paved. Likewise, only
two paved roads lead into the park's
famed rainforests. Although a long
stretch of beach within the national
park is paralleled by U.S. 101, the
park's most spectacular beaches can
only be reached on foot.
While the park is inaccessible to
cars, it is a wonderland for hikers and
backpackers. Its rugged beaches, rain-
forest valleys, alpine meadows, and
mountaintop glaciers offer an amazing
variety of hiking and backpacking
