Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park was created in 1938 by enlarging a national monument on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington established in 1909. The park preserves a large portion of the virgin rain forest of the Olympic Mountains, as well as a 50-mile strip of forested Pacific coast. It has the highest precipitation total of anywhere in the U.S. Dense forests of giant Sitka spruce and luxuriant growths of ferns and moss are found at lower elevations, and forests of Douglas fir, hemlock, cedar, spruce, and pine at the higher. Some 60 active glaciers lie scattered among the snowy summits.