Olympic National Park has everything I love in a national park: mountains, lakes, great trails, and wildlife. It even borders the coast, with amazing scenery where the Pacific Ocean laps against rocky shorelines and coniferous-covered bluffs. The park is home to one of the best places to see a temperate rainforest in the United States, with moss covering tree trunks and stumps, and ferns lining the forest floor. But the beauty comes with a price; this area receives a lot of rain, and visitors may find their views limited by mist and fog.

Although I'd traveled to Washington State many times growing up, it was not until last July that I finally took the trek out to the Olympic Peninsula to visit Olympic National Park. I should not have waited as long as I did, since the park was amazing, even with rain. I had hoped that a summer visit would herald better weather, but unfortunately only parts of each day during my visit were cloud free.

I visited each of the components of the park -- mountains, rainforest, and coast, and each was special in its own way. The Olympic Mountains are easily seen from Hurricane Ridge. On a clear day, the opposite view across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island is spectacular. I only got glimpses of the island through breaks in the clouds. Still, the hikes that were open on the ridge were a great way to get new views of the Olympic Mountains, as well as observe native mule deer and mountain goats. At a lower elevation I thoroughly enjoyed relaxing on the shore of Lake Crescent and then hiking through lush green rainforest to Marymere Falls. I also enjoyed awesome rainforest hikes in the Hoh and Quinault Rainforests further south.

The final component of the park is the coastline, which in places abuts the Quileute Reservation, home to a Pacific Coast Native American community that can be visited when hiking along the coast. I love how different the cool, rocky Pacific coast is from other coastlines in the United States. The atmosphere hiking along the driftwood-covered beach on a misty day, listening to the waves roll in through the sea stacks, was unparalleled. There are a lot of incredible places to visit in Olympic National Park, and I'd recommend spending no less than two days minimum to get a good taste of all three components.

Logistics: Private transporation is the easiest and best way to see all the components of Olympic National Park; in general summer is a drier period with better weather.