Olympic: 4 Days of Mountains, Rain Forest and Wild Coast

Start where the rangers are. The park's main visitor center sits on the edge of Port Angeles, about five minutes from downtown (about 1.9 miles by road), and it doubles as the Wilderness Information Center, so it is the place to ask about current trail conditions, tide timing for the coast days ahead, and whether the weather on the ridge is behaving. Browse the exhibits, grab a map, If you have time, the short Peabody Creek Trail begins at the visitor center parking lot and runs through green lowland forest, a gentle way to stretch your legs after the drive in.

The 17-mile climb from the edge of Port Angeles takes you from near sea level to a ridge at roughly 5,200 feet, and the forest opens up into subalpine meadow as you go. Pull over at a viewpoint on the way up if traffic is light. Expect the temperature to drop noticeably and the wind to pick up near the top, so keep a jacket within reach even in July.

Park at the top and take in the range from the overlook. There are picnic areas near the Hurricane Hill trailhead (Picnic Areas A and B), which are a good spot for your packed lunch. Walk the paved Cirque Rim path (about half a mile each way, under 50 feet of climb) to a stone-walled overlook above the deep glacial cirque, and stroll the Big Meadow on its own short trail. The Visitor Contact Station is small, with rangers and restrooms but no indoor space, so treat it as an information stop rather than a rest stop.

A quick warm-up on the way west: Madison Falls is a short, wheelchair-accessible walk in the Elwha Valley to a waterfall that cascades into a small pool. It is about 20 minutes from Port Angeles and adds little time,.

A flat, easy loop through lakeside old-growth forest that starts right at Lake Crescent Lodge. Trail-side wayside signs tell the natural and cultural history of the lake and the Barnes Point area. It is a lovely cool-down after Marymere (distance per the Lake Crescent brochure: a flat 0.6-mile loop; the 'things to do' page lists 0.8 miles and about 9 feet of gain, so expect somewhere in that range), and it puts you on the lodge doorstep in time for lunch.

About five miles up the Sol Duc Road, a viewing platform looks down on the Sol Duc River as it squeezes through a series of rock ledges. From late summer into early fall, coho salmon hurl themselves up the cascades on their way to spawn, and it is a place to watch the leaps. Even without fish, the churning water is worth the stop. Timing is by run, not by clock, so treat any fish as a bonus.

Trade trail dust for mineral water. The resort's pools run from about 98 to 106 degrees, with a cooler pool at the other end of the temperature scale, and the setting among old-growth forest is hard to match. Day-use passes are sold by 1.5-hour session; the 4:00-5:30 PM session fits the schedule here. Bring a swimsuit; towels can be rented. Hot spring temperatures fluctuate, so ask the lifeguards which pools are at their best. There is no phone service or internet at the resort.

Built in 1916 on the south shore of Lake Crescent, this is one of the park's original lodges and a lodge Franklin Roosevelt visited in 1937 before signing the bill that made Olympic a national park a year later. There are cabins, motel rooms and rooms in the historic lodge building; there is a dining room, lounge, coffee bar and gift shop, and boat rentals are available. The lodge closes in winter, so confirm dates for your visit. Reserve as far ahead as you can for summer. Day 3 starts with a 6:00 AM departure, before the dining room opens for breakfast, so pack breakfast the day before.

A second, quieter loop that packs a lot of variety into 1.2 miles: nurse logs sprouting whole rows of young hemlocks, and the milky slate-blue Hoh River nearby. It stays under 100 feet of gain (we store 100 as an upper bound). One trail report calls it the less-crowded of the two short loops, so it is a good way to escape the Hall of Mosses crowds.

The road ends at a modest visitor center with exhibits on the rain forest, a bookstore, passport stamp and ranger-led walks in summer. Trip planning notes say the Hoh is very busy between May and September with long waits at the entrance booth, which is why this plan arrives early and does the loops first. Roosevelt elk frequent the area and you are asked to keep 50 yards away; they are easily startled and can be dangerous.

The only oceanfront lodge in Olympic National Park sits on a bluff above the beach, built in 1953 with lumber milled from drift logs, and it is open year-round. Choose among lodge rooms, cabins, and Seacrest House; pets are welcome and dogs can enjoy the beach. Arrive in the afternoon, settle in and enjoy the bluff and the view of the water before dinner; check the lodge's check-in time when you book. Falling asleep to surf is the whole point.

Beach 4 is one of the coast's tidepooling spots, along with Ruby Beach and Hole in the Wall on Rialto Beach. The park shows an overlook at the trailhead area, and one of its photos shows rock pitted with clam-bored holes. Check the tide table; if the water is low you can pick your way among anemones and sea stars, and if it is high, treat this as a short stop at the overlook and start the drive south early. Keep off drift logs and do not turn your back on the surf. Dogs should stay home for tidepooling.

From the lodge it is about 11 miles and 24 minutes via US-101 and North Shore Road. The loop is a flat, self-guided walk from the Quinault Rain Forest Ranger Station through a homestead site where weathered outbuildings are slowly being reclaimed by the forest. The length is 1.3 miles. It is an easy, low-key finale to the trip and offers a very different mood from the Hoh, with fewer crowds and a human-history angle. The ranger station keeps seasonal Thursday-to-Monday hours, so do not count on it being open.