The area covers roughly 50 miles east to west and 40 north to south, a complex jumble of rocky ridges often draped with small glaciers and permanent snowfields standing above long drainages tangled with vegetation and utterly spectacular valleys forested with old growth. Ridges and drainages radiate like a pinwheel from the high central region of the park topped by glacier-cloaked Mount Olympus at 7,965 feet, an irresistible attraction to climbers. You may find over 350 lakes if you are willing to search all the high and secret places of the park. The forest is fantastically verdant and filled to abundance with wildlife including the world's largest herd of Roosevelt elk. Black bears are ubiquitous.
Mountain goats wander into camps.
Weather created by the nearby ocean and the sudden rise of the Olympic Mountains creates unpredictable conditions that tend toward wet. 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, wave and storm-wracked. The northern beach is one of my all-time favorite hikes. There are almost 600 miles of trails leading into the interior of the park.