The area, a complex jumble of rocky ridges, covers approximately 50 miles east to west and 40 north to south. Small glaciers and permanent snowfields drape the ridges, broken up at lower elevations by the tangled vegetation bordering the long drainages and the old growth that forests the utterly spectacular valleys. Ridges and drainages radiate from the high central region of the park like a pinwheel topped by glacier-cloaked Mount Olympus, an irresistible attraction to climbers at 7,965 feet. If you're willing to search all the high and secret places of the park, you may discover more than 300 lakes. The forest is fantastically verdant and filled to abundance with wildlife, including the world's largest herd of Roosevelt elk.
Black bears are everywhere.
Mountain goats wander into camps. The nearby ocean and the sudden rise of the Olympic Mountains together create unpredictable weather conditions that tend toward the sodden. Winter snows smother the high country. Separate from the vast interior portion, the park includes 57 miles of beach, most of it grandly isolated, splendidly wild, and wracked by waves and storms. Almost 600 miles of trails lead into the interior of the park.