A first-rate adventure in our favorite 1,500 square mile national treasure – spend time on foot in our favorite places in Olympic National Park! Join the Northwest’s favorite guides on an unforgettable exploration of the quiet corners of UNESCO World Heritage Site Olympic National Park.
We combine great hikes, good people, the best accommodations in the area and lots of laughs with an examination of what natural silence is, why it’s important, and what it feels like to engage with it. Olympic National Park is considered one of the last bastions of natural silence in the U.S.A. and the quietest place in North America. You’ll follow in the footsteps of Roosevelt elk and black tail deer, discover tumbling waterfalls that feed into the crystalline Hoh River, explore wild beaches at low-tide, and decompress under canopies of moss-draped big leaf maples spreading out overhead. Get outside, slow down, tune in, and enjoy this magical place with us.
The flow of the tour has been carefully crafted to maximize your time outside and provide quality access to as many of the highlights the National Park has to offer as possible. The lodging location has accessible walks and trails nearby, providing opportunities for self-exploration. We’ll be walking, exploring and learning together each day as well – tailoring the distances and timing to you as we circumnavigate the Park. All of the hikes can accommodate a wide range of ability levels and interests. We aim to minimize transfer and vehicle time, but the Olympic National Park is massive and remote that some vehicle time is required each day.
SAMPLE ITINERARY
DAY 1: Lake Quinault + Pacific Coast
Towering Trees. Peaceful Lakes. Driftwood Beaches. Roaring Waves.
As you begin the full circumnavigation of the Olympic Peninsula, the first destination will be to one of the least visited and most serene reaches of the national park. Journey south to the Lake Quinault region, home to some of the largest trees in the world. Venture through old growth forests and moss-covered trees as we explore this Southwest corner of the national park. Continue around the Peninsula until you reach the western-most reaches of Washington State and begin to catch glimpses of the wild Pacific Ocean. n sharp contrast to the soaring inland forests, the coastal beaches are lined with forbidding-looking tangles of gnarled spruce and wind-whipped shore pines.
Settle in to your accommodations for the next two nights, where every room has a view of the water. Take an afternoon walk along the coastline, search for beach treasures and soak in the peaceful continuity of the pounding waves against the surf. Dinner tonight is served over the fire overlooking the ocean as we gather to share about our favorite parts of the day. You may wish to turn in early tonight, because tomorrow has a whole new set of adventures waiting for us.
Walking Distances: 3-4 miles possible, mostly flat or mild elevation trails
DAY 2: The Hoh Rainforest
Old Growth Forests. Rippling Rivers. Moss Draped Trees. Natural Silence.
Cited as being one of the quietest places on earth, and truly one of the “bucket-list” destinations in the Park, the Hoh Rainforest allows us to step into an ancient time when our presence in the forest was guided by a need to hear but not be heard. Hoh means “whitewater,” an apt description for the boulder-strewn, braided ribbon of a river formed from the glaciers on Mt Olympus. Begin at the Visitor’s Center on the Hall of Mosses Nature Trail and continue up the Hoh River Trail for lunch by the river, and with any luck, track down an elk herd along the way. Colonnades of spruce stretch toward the sky high above the canopy, big leaf maples spread out over green meadows, and lichens and mosses run wall to wall and floor to ceiling. In this silent forest, there is more biomass per acre than anywhere else on the planet. Inevitably, you will run out of adjectives for “green!”
Walking Distances: Hall of Mosses and Hoh Rainforest Trail can be up to 8 miles cumulative, mostly flat and accessible trail conditions
DAY 3: Lake Crescent + Hurricane Ridge
Turquoise Waters Misty Waterfalls. Mountain Vistas. Ferry-ride.
This morning, head north towards the famed Lake Crescent, one of the clearest lakes in the U.S. and replete with fantastic legends. Learn about the history of Storm King and the various explanations for the formation of this region and walk narrow forested trail that will bring you to tucked away falls.
After lunch, celebrate our last day with an ascent to the literal high-point of the tour – Hurricane Ridge. This land is shaped by wind – gusting to over 70 mph, with snows 30-35 feet deep during the winter months. We climb up through alpine meadows and tree islands, spying black-tailed deer, mountain goats, and Olympic marmots (an endemic species of giant ground squirrel) until we reach Hurricane Hill. There we are met by sweeping views of the Olympic Mountains to the south and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Island to the north. Following our trip into the high-country, our return to Seattle concludes with a spectacular ferry ride across the Puget Sound.
Walking Distances: 3-6 miles possible, mild to moderate sections of trail
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