Qualla: Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:06 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-peninsula-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: Introduction https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 4.0. The Olympic Peninsula is an island of wilderness. No roads cross the mountains that form its core; the only penetration is from the edges. Olympic National Park protects the heart: glacier-capped peaks, temperate rainforests receiving 12 feet of precipitation annually, and 73 miles of wild coastline. The variety concentrates diversity unusual in a single park. You can walk from wave-crashed beach through old-growth forest to alpine meadow in a single day's hike, ascending from sea level to over 7,000 feet through ecosystems that span hemispheres. The isolation that kept the interior roadless also kept it intact; what exists now is close to what existed before Europeans arrived.

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: The Rainforest https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit Sam Beebe, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Hoh, Quinault, and Queets rainforests receive 12 to 14 feet of precipitation annually, making them among the wettest places in the continental United States. The result is temperate rainforest of extraordinary lushness: Sitka spruce and western red cedar towering 300 feet, ev...

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Image: Sam Beebe | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-the-rainforest.mp3 0:06 2 full Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: The Mountains https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit Anastacia12182, CC BY-SA 3.0. Mount Olympus rises 7,980 feet from sea level, its summit glaciers visible from the coast. The Olympic Mountains are young and jagged, their peaks not yet eroded to the rounded forms of older ranges. Approximately 60 glaciers persist despite recession; the Blue Glacier is the lar...

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Image: Anastacia12182 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-the-mountains.mp3 0:06 3 full Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: The Coast https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The Olympic coast is the longest wilderness coastline in the contiguous United States - 73 miles of sea stacks, tidepools, and beaches accessible only by foot. The waves are Pacific-sized, arriving from thousands of miles of open ocean. Sea stacks dot the surf zone, remnants of h...

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]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-the-coast.mp3 0:06 4 full Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: The Wildlife https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit Anastacia12182, CC BY-SA 3.0. Olympic's isolation created endemic species found nowhere else: the Olympic marmot, the Olympic torrent salamander, several fish species. Roosevelt elk, the species named for Theodore Roosevelt, roam the river valleys in herds. Black bears are common; mountain goats, introduced i...

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Image: Anastacia12182 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-the-wildlife.mp3 0:06 5 full Olympic: Where Rainforest Meets the Wild Pacific: Visiting Olympic https://qualla.com/olympic-rainforest/ Photo credit Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 4.0. Olympic National Park is located on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, accessible from Seattle via ferry to Bremerton or Bainbridge Island, or by driving around Puget Sound. The park has no through roads; access is from multiple peripheral points. Hurricane Ridge (south o...

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Image: Joe Mabel | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/2/2/p/olympic-rainforest-wk/c22p-olympic-where-rainforest-meets-the-wild-pacific-visiting-olympic.mp3 0:06 6 full