Olympic National Park: three parks in one

Where

Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Best months

July to September

Time needed

Four days for the full loop

Nearest airports

Seattle, Port Angeles

Olympic is really three distinct parks sharing a boundary: a temperate rainforest, 70 miles of wild Pacific coast, and a glaciated alpine core. No road crosses the middle. Everything is reached by spurs off US 101, which loops the peninsula, so the trip is a circle and the order you drive it matters.

The loop, in order

1. 1 Hurricane Ridge from Port Angeles: an hour up to alpine meadows and a view across to Canada. Do it on the clearest day you get, because it is often in cloud.
2. 2 Lake Crescent: startlingly clear glacial water, and the short Marymere Falls walk.
3. 3 Sol Duc: hot springs and a fine waterfall, a worthwhile detour.
4. 4 Hoh Rainforest: the Hall of Mosses is a short loop through the most photographed rainforest in America. Go early, the lot fills and the road in is long.
5. 5 Rialto, Ruby and Second Beach: sea stacks, driftwood the size of buses, and tidepools. Check a tide table, because several beach walks are only passable at low tide.
6. 6 Lake Quinault: the quiet southern rainforest, and a good last night before turning back toward Seattle.

Location: Olympic National Park

Weather, honestly

The Hoh receives up to 14 feet of rain a year. July, August and September are the dry months and even then a jacket is not optional. If you come outside that window, come expecting rain and choose the rainforest and coast over the ridge, since the alpine will simply be inside a cloud.

Tides are a planning input here

Several of the coastal walks cross headlands that are only passable around low tide, with the ones that are not marked by overland rope routes. Getting this wrong strands people every year. Pick up a tide chart at any visitor centre and read the beach map before you set out.