Planning for my 3 day visit to Olympic NP was no easy feat, but the many hours of deciding where to…read morecamp, which sites to see, which trails to hike and logistics for 6 people arriving from different states made for a wonderful and enjoyable trip. Offering attractions like the breathtaking coast, awe-inspiring rainforests, and majestic mountains, Olympic National Park has quickly become my favorite national park. After deciding on the campsites, booking campsites through recreation.gov was challenging. During the planning process, Hoh campground, near the Hoh rainforest, was not opened due to road closures. Moreover, recreation.gov releases campsites on a specific schedule so if you're NOT booking at the beginning of the year (like me), then you need to set a notification on the website to let you know when campsites open up. Initially, the campsite availability looked bleak at first, but campsites do open up and more campsites are released a couple weeks before you want to go so hover over the recreation.gov site to learn how to book a campsite. When planning, I wish the map of the park (the one given at the entrance of the park) was online so I could make better choices when planning. To help others plan, I've posted a photo of the map that I wish I had. You're welcome. As the dates of my trip approached, Hoh Campground opened up! Because spending time near the rainforest was important to us, we cancelled our other reservations (yes, you lose some $) and I booked two nights at Hoh. If you camp near the restroom, the dishwash station is nearby and the bathrooms have electrical outlets, but no soap. Bring your own. Since I knew ahead of time that there were no nearby showers, I brought a portable shower which was refreshing after enduring a hot and humid afternoon hiking to Marymere Falls. However, there is a cold stream that's fun to walk through right next to the campground to cool off during the heat of the day. One of the downsides of tent camping is that the mosquitos come out and if you're susceptible (like me), it's brutal even with insect repellant. Another downside is unaware campers like the women across from us in her Sprinter van who didn't turn her generator off at 10pm (quiet hours). By midnight, a brave soul in our party went to her van and rang her doorbell to let her know to turn off her generator. After spending a minute or two trying to communicate with her with her windows and door closed, she complied with no apologies. Early the next morning we headed off to Rialto Beach to see the tide pools (it was low tide at 8am) and hole-in-the-wall rock. Having seen lots of tide pools, I was initially not inclined to wake up early to drive 45 minutes to Rialto Beach, but the tide pools were fascinating as was the the hole-in-the-wall rock. Upon returning, we took an informative guided tour of the Hoh rainforest lead by an ebullient ranger. BTW, if it's a really hot day, spend time in the Hoh Welcome Center where the displays are interesting, you can refill your water bottle and there is A/C!!! After packing up the next day, we headed to Fairholme campground where the ground is uneven but bearable for tents. En route to Fairholme, we made a stop to hike up to see the thrilling Sol Duc Falls. Prior to that, you can make a stop to see the Coho jumping up the river (in August) which was totally mezmerizing and makes for great photos. Since Fairholme is right next to Crescent Lake, we all braved the cold water and played in the lake which was fun. For safety, there were FREE PFDs hanging near the sign which I took advantage of. Just like Hoh, Fairholme had a dishwash station near the bathroom which had electrical outlets, but no showers. Because it rained all night and my tent had lost its waterproofness, my sleeping bag was soaked by the next morning. While drizzling, we packed up to leave in all our wetness. Before saying good-bye to the park, we drove to Hurricane Ridge where we were able to hike to the peak (it had stopped raining) and see a deer walking through the parking lot, a marmot looking for food from tourists and a sooty grouse. Last but not least, if you entered the park and plan to exit the park through Port Angles to catch the ferry, it's another thing to be aware of as it's best to make reservations, especially if you're near a holiday. Despite our reservations, we asked if we could catch an earlier ferry than our 5pm reserved time. Although all ferry reservations were fully booked, we could give up our reservation and wait on stand-by which we chose to do, but it was a mistake. Looking back, it would have been better spending more time at the park or spending time in Port Angeles rather than giving up the reservation as there were no stand-bys while we were waiting and we ended up loading onto the ferry at the original reserved time. Phew! We made it without a reservation. With hours of prior planning, this park was memorable and enjoyable even with mosquitos and rain.

Better late than never! We made it to the Hurricane Ridge hike on 8/12/25 between 10am-12pm and it…read morewas too hot for me with barely any shade up top and throughout our way down. I would recommend going sooner 7-8am starting time. We camped the night before at HEART O' THE HILLS Campground without prior reservation. It was a quick drive up top to Hurricane Ridge the next morning for our hike. The hike didn't live up to our expectations! Not much to see and not much shade anywhere. Some decent views up top but you can get much better views without hiking up this way. What I appreciate is wheelchair accessible trails up to certain areas of the trail! Plenty of free parking areas up top. For me personally, the views, the landscape, the scenery aren't worth the hype and planning for me to make a trip out here during the second week of August. There are better choices for hikes elsewhere and in the next state, Oregon. The HEART O' THE HILLS campground was nice option for camping and I do appreciate they still offer spots without reservations as it should be as first comes first served instead of let people hoarding them way ahead of time because they have the means to do so and preventing available spaces for true camping spirit. The restroom was cleaned and maintained.

Beautiful campground so close to town, yet feels very secluded. We drove through each loop multiple…read moretimes searching out a spot. Best suited to tent camping as a majority of the sites have shorter paved drives that are quite uneven. Would definitely be hard for longer rigs. First come only, and to get your site you must either log into the system (with limited cell service) or write your entire credit card info onto the form and leave it to be processed...no cash. Not so much a fan of that notion. We took the Heart o the Forest trail available from the top loop, although we didn't take it to the end. An out & back, narrow, with lovely trees. Overall a nice forested campground, with loads of sites of varied shapes and sizes and levels of privacy.

On our tour of the Olympic Peninsula this was our first stop. It made for a great first night and…read moreis just outside of Port Angeles. We arrived late on a weekday night after working a full day on the Eastside. This campground is first come first serve so we couldn't really plan ahead and had to hope there would still be something available. Even though we arrived only a few hours before dark we were able to find a really nice campsite nestled in the woods. There are several loops with nice sized camp sites for both tent and Rv camping. We found a lovely private site that was clean and free of litter and well maintained of debris. Each site is surrounded by gorgeous trees for privacy, mossy rocks, and peaceful forest views. After getting set up we enjoyed a restful and quiet night. The bathrooms were well maintained and there was also water for cleaning our dishes. Each loop seemed to have its own bathroom and garbage sites which was super convenient. We saw several deer, birds, and other little critters on our brief night's stay and look forward to coming back to visit them soon.

The pier is definitely worth a stroll if you're in the downtown area. There are tons of waterfowl…read moreso it's great for all you birders out there - and you'll get beautiful views of the inner harbor and the Olympic mountains. Apparently the fishing is really great too and the pier is well suited to it. It's located in the heart of downtown on the waterfront near most of PA's shops and restaurants. It's right next to the Wharf which is also worth a visit as it has restaurants and art galleries. There's a map of the historic waterfront trail near the entrance to Hollywood Beach which is also right off to the right of the pier and a nice stroll too. Theres a Marine Science Center which is probably really fun for the kids (was closed when I visited). Alongside the pier there's seating and a covered stage - the city holds a "Concerts on the Pier" series Wednesday nights in the summer. And the pier and stage can even be rented for public events! There's a small-ish parking lot right at the entrance with free, timed parking. But there can be some shady characters milling around in that area so I would recommend keeping an eye on your vehicle and don't leave anything valuable inside.

Nice place to walk around the waterfront. Some restaurants nearby and the whaft building is pretty…read morecool. Quick stop for food and rest

we had an excellent experience with the Olympic Hiking Co last week. Daniel led us on a walk thru…read morethe rain forest and his comments and observations absolutely enriched the hours we spent with him. We had never been in that part of the country before and it was a spectacular experience. And to top it off, Daniel even spotted a bear on the way back!

Daniel was very professional, a great driver, lots of local knowledge and a great hiking/nature…read moreguide.

On our recent family vacation to the Olympic Peninsula, we spent a day hiking, birding, and tide…read morepooling with Carolyn Wilcox of Experience Olympic as our guide. She was wonderful! Her extensive knowledge of the area and its flora and fauna made the entire day a first-rate experience that was educational, immersive, and fun!! If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Olympic National Park and are looking for a guide to enhance your exploration of the park's natural diversity, please do yourself a favor and spend a day, or more, with Carolyn.

What a wonderful experience! Carolyn tailored a 2-day hiking tour based for my wife and I based on…read morethe sights we wanted to see and the activity level we were craving. We got to explore diverse areas of Olympic National Park and experienced some beautiful views. Carolyn is super knowledgeable about area wildlife, captured great photos and was pleasant and entertaining throughout. 5-star experience, highly recommend.

So happy we stayed here! It was easy to check in even with the office being closed. We received…read moredetailed instructions via email. Our room was definitely thought out, as we had everything needed (cozy robes, enough pillows & blankets, and even binoculars to see out over the water) and more. Very clean and comfortable. We would definitely come back again! Thank you

I had an absolutely wonderful stay. The location was perfect for me! The cottage room was clean and…read moreit had everything I needed! The front desk gal, Noreen thought outside the box and fixed a small issue that I had (that was my fault)! I was so grateful for her problem solving! The views were amazing and the beach access was perfect! I will be back!!!

Originally booked the 130pm half day sea kayaking tour online. Received a call the next day saying…read morethe 130pm tour was already full for the next few days (not sure why it let me book online then). But luckily I was able to be flexible and switch to the morning tour (they gave me a day's notice). The staff on the phone said it would be much less windy anyway...which definitely turned out to be true and I was so glad for it bc it would've been chilly otherwise! They're doing great on the Covid safety measures as much as possible. Instead of parking at the office and riding a bus to the bay, they just have you either follow the guide in his vehicle with the kayaks or give you an address/coordinates for your gps. It was easy to keep up with our guide. Everyone wore masks until we got into our own individual kayaks. Very easy to practice social distancing in this setting! The office was very easy to find, right off the highway and even has a winery right next door (and was highly recommended by the host at my inn). Plenty of parking everywhere we went. After a brief safety talk and bit of equipment orientation, we launched from a rocky beach in Freshwater Bay and went out into the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. It was absolutely gorgeous weather - sunny and calm and a perfect temperature. The water was insanely clear! We saw jellyfish and kelp crabs and all manner of birds! We even sampled a little bit of the kelp haha! Our guide, Chris, was so knowledgeable and he made the tour interesting and really fun! There's even a little cave you can swoop through if you have one of the smaller kayaks! I highly recommend you bring sturdy water shoes and waterproof camera!

Absolutely amazing! We kayaked on Lake Crescent and had the best time. Everyone at the shop was so…read morekind getting us ready. Our guide was so much fun and very knowledgeable about the area. Kayaking Lake Crescent was the highlight of our trip! We saw bald eagles, lots of birds, baby geese, and baby ducks!

Super easy walk through the forest near Lake Crescent and the lodge…read more About an 0.8 mile loop, you'll get beautiful views of the surrounding forest, and you'll learn all about the surrounding trees and plants through the various plaques scattered throughout the trail. We were the only people on the trail when we walked, and it was so peaceful and serene as we explored. If you have the time, a super enjoyable hike while exploring Lake Crescent or spending time at the lodge.

Beautiful and easy trail to walk in amazingly natural beauty. Near Port Angeles on the way to Forks.read more