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The Olympics and
Kitsap Peninsula
You're on your way to another world, barely connected by land to the major cities of Puget Sound. Whether you're driving west, or standing at the bow of a ferry, you can't help but stare ahead to the jagged beauty of the Olympic Mountains. You can reach the Olympic and
Kitsap Peninsulas by several different routes: take a car ferry from Seattle, Edmonds, Whidbey Island, or Victoria, BC, or drive around through Tacoma or Olympia. The scenic Olympic Loop (Highway 101) circumnavigates Olympic National Park and provides access to the entire peninsula region.
As a day outing or as a stopover on your way west, the Kitsap Peninsula is home to many distinctive shops and galleries, fine restaurants and cozy inns with spectacular views - the Olympic Mountains to the west and Mount Rainier and the Seattle city skyline to the east. On Hood Canal, a fjord between the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas, the summer sun warms the channel waters for swimming and blackberries grow fat on bluffs and roadsides.
The vast and road-less Olympic National Park combined with Olympic National Forest, totals more than 2 million acres of protected nature. Ecological and geological extremes coexist in close proximity. Whether you're equipped to scale the sharpest peak, or simply seek the peace of a groomed path to a waterfall in the forest, you must explore it for yourself. Deer and bear are plentiful and the Roosevelt elk population is the largest anywhere. Bald eagles ride the skies and salmon fight their way upstream from the Pacific. You can trace their journey from the ocean, along a river through the rain forest, all the way to the foot of the blue glaciers of Mount Olympus. Along the shore, monumental sea stacks stand oblivious to the power of the Pacific. Jade-green sea urchins, orange starfish and myriad other species take refuge in delicate tide pools. These are the last wilderness beaches in the lower 48 states. In the rain forest, ferns grow to prehistoric size and moss hangs like drapery from the branches of ancient trees. Here in the world's only coniferous rain forests, you'll find the world's largest specimens of western cedar and Sitka spruce. In the alpine areas, rugged mountains wear wildflowers and rise in a blink from near sea level to six and seven thousand feet. Their glacial melt fills the rivers with a nourishing rage in the spring.
Activities on the peninsulas are as diverse as the spectacular landscape. In the same day, it's possible to go snowboarding in the morning and scuba diving in the afternoon. Traverse a glacier; soak your body in a hot spring; then visit a local winery, art gallery or unique artisan's shop. Go whitewater rafting through the Elwha River Valley; then go llama trekking into the high-country. Or, stroll for miles on a natural beach, stopping to examine life teeming in the tide pools. You can fish from the shore or try your skills on the deep seas. Climb Mount Olympus or walk a gentle trail in the surreal green of a rain forest. Wherever you explore, watch for the black bear and noble Roosevelt elk. After all, this is really their domain.
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Peninsulas
