Often referred to as "three parks in one", Olympic National Park
encompasses three distinctly different ecosystems—rugged glacier capped
mountains, over 60 miles of wild Pacific coast and magnificent stands of
old-growth and temperate rain forest. These diverse ecosystems are still
largely pristine in character (about 95% of the park is designated
wilderness)and are Olympic's gift to you.
Olympic is also known for its biological diversity. Isolated for eons
by glacial ice, the waters of Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca,
the Olympic Peninsula has developed its own distinct array of plants and
animals. Eight kinds of plants and five kinds of animals are found on the
peninsula and live nowhere else in the world.
The lush forest and the many streams of Olympic makes it
similar, in some ways, to New Zealand South Island.
