The Olympic Peninsula protrudes into the Pacific Ocean at the far north western tip of Washington State, it became a World Heritage Site in 1981.

The coastal portion of the park is a rugged, sandy beach along with a strip of adjacent forest. It is 73 miles long but just a few miles wide, with native communities at the mouths two of rivers. The most popular piece of the coastal strip is the 9-mile Ozette Loop. The Park Service runs a registration and reservation program to control usage levels of this area. From the trailhead at Lake Ozette, a 3-mile leg of the trail is a boardwalk-enhanced path through near primal coastal cedar.

Within the center of Olympic National Park rise the Olympic Mountains whose sides and ridgelines are topped with massive, ancient glaciers.