Best Hikes in Olympic National Park: 12 Trails Across Ridge, Rainforest and Coast
Olympic packs alpine ridges, temperate rain forest, and a wild sea-stack coast into one park, and no road crosses the middle, so plan a hike from each zone rather than looking for one best trail. Hurricane Hill (3.2 miles) is the top pick above treeline, Hall of Mosses (0.8 miles) and Sol Duc Falls (1.6 miles) cover the rain forest, and Second Beach and the Ozette Triangle cover the coast. Our 2-day Olympic itinerary strings the ridge, the Hoh, and the coast together in one trip, and the longer 3-day Olympic Peninsula Loop covers both sides of the park.
Trails by Region
| Trail | Region | Distance | Gain | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Hill | Hurricane Ridge | 3.2 mi round trip | ~700 ft | Moderate |
| Hall of Mosses | Hoh Rain Forest | 0.8 mi loop | ~100 ft | Easy |
| Spruce Nature Trail | Hoh Rain Forest | 1.2 mi loop | Flat | Easy |
| Hoh River Trail to Mineral Creek Falls | Hoh Rain Forest | 5.4 mi round trip | Minimal | Moderate (distance) |
| Sol Duc Falls | Sol Duc | 1.6 mi round trip | ~200 ft | Easy |
| Marymere Falls | Lake Crescent | 1.8 mi round trip | ~500 ft | Easy to moderate |
| Mount Storm King | Lake Crescent | 4.0 mi round trip | ~2,065 ft | Hard |
| Second Beach | Coast | 1.4 mi round trip | Minimal | Easy |
| Rialto Beach to Hole-in-the-Wall | Coast | 3.0 mi round trip | Flat | Easy to moderate (tide dependent) |
| Ruby Beach | Coast | 0.5 mi round trip | ~60 ft | Easy |
| Ozette Triangle | Coast | ~9 mi loop | Minimal | Moderate (distance) |
| Enchanted Valley | Backcountry | 26 mi round trip | Significant | Hard (multi-day) |
Hurricane Ridge: Hurricane Hill
The best hike above treeline in the park. Hurricane Hill runs about 3.2 miles round trip with roughly 700 feet of gain on a paved, well-graded path climbing to a 5,757-foot summit. You start at 5,200 feet, so big mountain views come almost immediately: the Olympic interior to the south, Vancouver Island to the north, and the Cascades on a clear day. In July and August the slopes fill with lupine and avalanche lilies, and Olympic marmots, found nowhere else on Earth, whistle from the rocks. The Hurricane Ridge day lodge burned down and has not been rebuilt, so bring your own food and water; there is no service at the top.
Hoh Rain Forest: Hall of Mosses and Spruce Nature Trail
The Hall of Mosses is the trail everyone comes for: a 0.8-mile loop with about 100 feet of gentle climb, starting right behind the Hoh Visitor Center, under big-leaf maples so heavily draped in moss the light turns green. The Spruce Nature Trail, from the same trailhead, adds a flatter 1.2 miles along the Hoh River, where elk often graze at dawn and dusk. Combine both for a relaxed two-mile morning before the parking lot fills, which it does by mid-morning in summer.
Hoh River Trail, for More Distance
For hikers who want to go farther without leaving day-hike territory, the Hoh River Trail heads toward Blue Glacier and Mount Olympus, and the first several miles are almost dead flat. A turnaround at Mineral Creek Falls runs about 5.4 miles round trip under continuous old-growth canopy. Carry the ten essentials, since cell service ends well before the trailhead.
Sol Duc Falls
A short, easy 1.6-mile round trip with about 200 feet of gain to a waterfall that drops through a narrow rock chute in three channels. It is one of the most reliably scenic short hikes in the park and a good pick if you only have an hour, or if you are basing at the Sol Duc Hot Springs nearby.
Lake Crescent: Marymere Falls and Mount Storm King
Marymere Falls is a 1.8-mile round trip with about 500 feet of gain from the trailhead near the Storm King Ranger Station, climbing through old growth to a 90-foot falls. For something harder, the Mount Storm King trail climbs 4.0 miles round trip and about 2,065 feet, finishing on a steep, rope-assisted scramble to a viewpoint over the lake. The ropes on the upper section are not installed or maintained by the park, so climb only what you are comfortable climbing back down, and treat the top section as optional rather than the point of the hike.
Coast: Second Beach, Rialto and Ruby Beach
Second Beach, near La Push, is a 1.4-mile round trip through coastal forest to a wide beach framed by sea stacks, a favorite for sunset. Rialto Beach, reached via Mora Road, leads to Hole-in-the-Wall, a sea arch you can walk through, in about 3 miles round trip along cobbles and sand. Check a tide table before you go: the route is impassable and dangerous at high tide. Ruby Beach is the shortest of the three, a steep but brief half-mile round trip with about 60 feet of elevation change down to the beach's famous sea stacks and arch.
Coast: The Ozette Triangle
A boardwalk-and-beach loop of about 9 miles connecting Cape Alava and Sand Point, two of the wildest stretches of coast in the park, with a beach walk between them. It is a full day rather than a short outing, but it reaches petroglyphs and driftwood-strewn shoreline that the shorter beach hikes do not, with far fewer people once you are off the boardwalk.
Backcountry: Enchanted Valley
Not a day hike, but worth knowing about if you have more time: the Graves Creek trailhead to Enchanted Valley runs about 13 miles one way, 26 miles round trip, along the East Fork Quinault River to a valley walled in by waterfalls that run heaviest with spring snowmelt. It is a 2 to 3 day backpack, and a bear canister is required year round for overnight camping in the valley.
Easy Hikes Worth Planning Around
If you are short on time or hiking with young kids, these are the shortest, flattest picks from the list above: Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Nature Trail in the Hoh, Sol Duc Falls, and Ruby Beach. All four are under 2 miles round trip with little to no sustained climbing, and all four still deliver the thing people come to Olympic for, whether that is moss-hung forest, a waterfall, or a sea stack beach.
Best Time of Year for This List
Mid-July through September gives you every trail on this list at once: Hurricane Ridge Road reliably clear, the Hoh's parking lots at their most crowded but the trails dry, and the lowest, safest tides for coast hiking. Spring brings the Hoh's greenest color and the fewest people, but also the most rain and, on the Ozette Triangle and the beach routes, the least predictable tides. Fall thins the crowds everywhere and keeps most of this list open, though Hurricane Ridge Road can close without much notice once the first snow arrives, so check conditions before driving up.
A Note on This List
Olympic already has separate regional guides for the Hurricane Ridge trail network and the Hoh Rain Forest, both linked below, with more detail on each area's short loops and longer options. This list pulls the single best pick from every region into one ranked overview, for planning a trip that actually crosses zones rather than staying in one part of the park.
Hiking With a Guide
Olympic's three ecosystems, permit rules on the coast, and long drive times between trailheads trip up a lot of first-time visitors. A local guide can shorten that learning curve, particularly for the Mount Storm King scramble or a first Ozette Triangle trip where tide timing matters. Our guide marketplace connects you with people who hike this park regularly if you would rather not plan the logistics solo.
Have Us Plan the Route
Tell us how many days you have and we will sequence these trails so the drive times actually work, whether that fits our 3-day Olympic Peninsula Loop or a tighter trip. Planning is free, and we earn only if you book through us.
Best Hikes in Olympic National Park: 12 Trails Across Ridge, Rainforest and Coast FAQs
Hurricane Hill for the best payoff-to-effort ratio in alpine terrain: 3.2 miles round trip, about 700 feet of gain, and a 360-degree summit view starting from 5,200 feet. For rain forest, Hall of Mosses; for the coast, Second Beach or Ruby Beach.
Hall of Mosses (0.8 miles) and the Spruce Nature Trail (1.2 miles) in the Hoh Rain Forest, Sol Duc Falls (1.6 miles), and Ruby Beach (about half a mile down to the sand) are all short, mostly flat, and reward the short walk.
Hard. It runs 4.0 miles round trip with about 2,065 feet of gain, and the final stretch to the summit is a steep, rope-assisted scramble. The ropes are not maintained by the park, so treat the very top as optional.
Yes, local guides operate throughout the park, and they are especially useful for tide-dependent coast hikes and the Mount Storm King scramble. ExplorOFF's guide marketplace connects travelers with guides who hike here regularly.
Not comfortably. No road crosses the interior of the park, so each region is its own drive from Port Angeles or Forks. Two days is enough to cover the ridge, the Hoh, and one coast stop without rushing; see our 2-day Olympic itinerary.
No permit for a day hike, but if you camp anywhere on the route overnight you need a wilderness permit and a bear canister, required year round in Olympic's backcountry.
Yes. The worked day-by-day plan is Olympic Peninsula Loop: 3-Day Pacific Northwest Road Trip (3 Days), with the permits, the stays and the drive times already sorted. Tell us your dates and we will put it together for you and confirm what is genuinely open on those days. Asking is free: no card, no deposit, and nothing is held until you say yes.
