Federal Lands

All of the traditional recreation activities are available on the Olympic National Forest. Opportunities for camping, picnicking, hiking, swimming, horseback riding, fishing, hunting, auto touring, backpacking, boating, and watching wildlife abound. And then there are some very unique opportunities such as scuba diving, oyster picking, and clam digging.

The temperate rain forest is found on the western side of the Peninsula. The Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Bogachiel drainages are the major temperate rain forest areas to visit.

There are five large lowland lakes on the Olympic Peninsula. All five are over 1,000 acres in size. Lake Quinault, Wynoochee Lake, and Lake Cushman are in or adjacent to the Olympic National Forest, while Lake Ozette and Lake Crescent are in the Olympic National Park.

The Olympic Mountains range from sea level to the summit of Mount Olympus at 7,965 feet elevation. This mountain range consists of many ridges extending out like spokes from the hub of a wheel. Most of the mountainous terrain on the Olympic Peninsula is within the Forest’s or Park’s Wildernesses. Wildlife, snow capped peaks, glaciers, cascading rivers, flowering meadows, and crystal clear lakes make this mountain range a very special place to visit.

Salt water surrounds the Olympic Peninsula on three sides. Even the saltwater beaches on the Olympic Peninsula offer a diversity of landscape settings. The Pacific Ocean to the west, the Strait of Juan De Fuca to the north and the canals, bays and fingers of the Puget Sound to the east.

Cascading streams and dense conifer forests radiate in all directions on the Olympic Peninsula. The Dosewallips, Duckabush, Hamma Hamma and South Fork Skokomish Rivers all flow to the Hood Canal on the eastern side of the Peninsula. The Satsop, Wynoochee, East Fork Humptulips and West Fork Humptulips Rivers drain to the Chehalis River or Grays Harbor to the South. The Quinault, Queets, Hoh, Bogachiel and Sol Duc Rivers flow to the Pacific Ocean along the west side of the Peninsula. The Elwa and Dungeness Rivers drain into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north side of the Peninsula.