There's Something for Everyone at Olympic National Park

01This week in our National Parks journey, we explore a vast area with mountains, beaches, forests, and glaciers.

02The area's huge range in both rainfall and elevation make it one of the most diverse parks in America.

03Welcome to Olympic National Park.

04The park is located in the western state of Washington.

05It is on the Olympic Peninsula in the northwest part of the state.

06The park covers more than 400,000 hectares.

07It has several different ecosystems.

08Visitors will find temperate rainforests, glacier-covered mountains, and almost 120 kilometers of wild coastline.

09The Olympic Peninsula has seen travelers from many countries throughout history, including Mexico, Spain, France, Russia, and England.

10Many travelers from these countries arrived in the late 1700s.

11They were searching for the Northwest Passage.

12The sea route connects the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by way of the Arctic Ocean.

13These explorers all claimed to discover different parts of what is now Olympic National Park.

14In 1792, English captain George Vancouver explored the peninsula in great detail by boat.

15He named many of the natural features in the area.

16Later, people began moving west across North America to search for gold.

17This era was known as the gold rush.

18Many people came to the western United States in search of gold.

19At the time, the Olympic Peninsula was not very developed and did not have roads.

20People had to travel by boat or horse to explore the peninsula.

21Early settlers reached the Olympic Peninsula in the mid-1800s.

22At first, people built homes on the coast.

23This area was easier to access and had good land for farming.

24Life on the Olympic Peninsula was difficult, however.

25People lived far from large cities and resources.

26They cut trees to build cabins.

27They also hunted and fished for food.

28Later, people started making expeditions into the center of the peninsula.

29They explored its forests and mountains.

30These areas never became very populated, however.

31To protect the nature of the area, President Grover Cleveland declared the Olympic Peninsula's forests as the Olympic Forest Reserve in 1897.

32And in 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill that established the Olympic National Park.

33Eight Native American tribes are closely connected to the area.

34One tribe, the Macaw, has a long history of whaling.

35The U.S.

36bans whaling, but the Macaw tribe is permitted to continue practicing this tradition in small amounts.

37American courts also gave Native American tribes the right to continue their traditional fishing practices in the area.

38Protecting fish resources is important to the Native Americans living on the Olympic Peninsula.

39Olympic National Park has meadows and lakes.

40It has glacier-fed rivers and mountain peaks that rise more than 2,300 meters.

41Each area of the park offers visitors something special.

42The Elwha Valley is in the central part of the park.

43It is the Olympic Peninsula's largest watershed.

44A watershed is an area of land that separates waters that flow to different rivers or seas.

45Long ago, the rivers in this area held the most salmon outside of Alaska.

46The area also was home to bears, eagles, cougars, and the Klalem Native Americans.

47In the 1920s, a growing community of settlers built two hydroelectric dams to provide energy for the local economy.

48The dams created many problems for the river.

49They decreased the water in the rivers, which caused the fish population in the area to decrease.

50This affected the other animals that depended on fish for food.

51The community later decided to fix these problems.

52In 1992, Congress passed the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act.

53Both dams have been removed, and the National Park Service is using fish hatcheries to increase the salmon population.

54Today, the Elwha River is the site of one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in National Park Service history.

55The Ho River is on the west side of the park.

56The river is formed from melted glacial ice on top of Mount Olympus.

57The river is 80 kilometers long.

58It empties into the Pacific Ocean.

59The area receives about 400 centimeters of rain each year.

60It is a temperate rainforest.

61Because of the amount of rain, many different types of plants grow in the Ho Rainforest.

62From mosses and ferns to huge Sitka spruce trees.

63The Ho River Valley is protected from any logging or development.

64Hurricane Ridge is a mountain area in the northern part of the park.

65It is easy to enter and provides incredible views of the Olympic Mountains.

66The ridge has many hiking paths.

67In winter, people come here to ski.

68They also come here to take part in other fun winter activities, like sledding and snowboarding.

69Hurricane Ridge usually has snow from December through the end of March.

70The westernmost part of the park is Pacific Coastline.

71Olympic National Park has many breathtaking beaches.

72Rialto Beach is known for its tall sea stacks.

73These formations are tall towers of rock standing in the sea.

74North of Rialto Beach is Hole in the Wall.

75It is a natural arch that has been carved by the powerful sea.

76Clay-like beach is known for its white sand.

77It also has three national wildlife refuges, which protect the area's bird and fish species.

78The coastline areas offer hiking and camping.

79They are some of the most popular places in the park.

80Olympic National Park offers difficult mountain hikes.

81It offers relaxing beaches and exciting walks through lush rainforests.

82There is truly something for everyone at Olympic National Park.

83I'm Dorothy Gundy.

84And I'm Phil Deerking.