The cow likes Olympic National Park too.


Olympic National Park is truly one of the most intriguing and magical regions on our planet. On the same day you can explore the rugged coastline with seastacks and tidepools, a rain forest with almost unbelievably lush growth and snow capped mountains with stunning panoramas. In between you can explore mountain lakes, waterfalls, rivers, flower covered meadows and miles and miles of old growth forests.

We spent a week exploring this magical place in the summer of 2005, and we took along our new digital camera. I highly recommend a visit to Olympic National Park to nature lovers of all kinds - they have something for everyone!

Make no mistake. It rains a lot. Enjoy my pictures.

If you're planning a trip to the Olympic Peninsula, these books may be helpful....

Insiders' Guide to the Olympic Peninsula

Near the great urban centers of the Pacific Northwest, yet remarkably wild and natural, lies the great Olympic Peninsula of Washington, with its great mountains, forests, coasts and more. Get the most out of a trip there, to Olympic National Park and other points with this comprehensive Insiders' Guide.

Best Easy Day Hikes - Olympics

This book is written especially for visitors to Washington's Olympic National Park who only have a day or two to explore the area. The concise descriptions of 29 short day trips showcase the best features of the Olympic Peninsula, with information on elevation change, average time required to complete the hike, directions to the trailhead and the key points of each hike. The hikes vary in length but most are less than 5 miles. A ranking from easiest to hardest simplifies hike selection.

Olympic Mountains Trail Guide: National Park & National Forest

With its moss-draped rain forests, alpine meadows brimming with wildflowers, and snow-capped mountains, the Olympic Peninsula is a hiker's paradise. Explore the Cat Creek Way Trail, a high-country route to a view of Oyster Lake, or trek along the Appleton Pass Trail where you might spy a fat marmot perched on one of the boulders along the path. This new edition of a tried-and-true classic contains all the facts for both day hikes and overnight backpack trips.

You'll find new information on 177 hikes and extensive material on history, geology, native plants, and wildlife. New features in this updated, expanded edition include: numbered hikes for quick reference; detailed information blocks for each trail; and weather information for each section of the Olympics.
Hiking Olympic National Park

Written by veteran trail-guide author Erik Molvar, this book describes a 585 mile network of maintained trails in a wilderness ecosystem that stretches from the beaches of the Pacific to the heart of the Olympic Mountains. The trails provide a full spectrum of challenges, from strenuous backpacking trips over glacier-clad mountains to short strolls through a temperate rain forest.
Olympic: A Visitor's Companion
(National Park Visitor's Companion Series , No 5)

The ecosystems within Olympic National Park are diverse--from coastline to forest--and support a variety of birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, mammals, and plants. Olympic describes and illustrates in full color each of these plant and animal species and explores the park's geological history, land use issues, native people and past explorers--at once a traveler's guide, field guide, and natural history of one of America's most popular and extraordinary national parks.