Dutton Cliff

In 1885, accompanied by a friend, J.M. Breck, William Gladstone Steel, who would later become known as “the Father of Crater Lake,” took the Oregon & California Railroad to Medford, where he caught a stagecoach to Fort Klamath. The two ...

Annie Spring/Lost Creek

The New Deal public works employment and funding agencies, in particular the Emergency Conservation Work (ECW) and Public Works Administration (PWA), provided a large infusion of men and funds to the park to enable management to complete a significant portion ...

Lake Cushman

Lake Cushman borders the southeast corner of Olympic State park. In 1871, an Olympia newspaper claimed that rich iron ore deposits were found near Lake Cushman. Excitement about iron deposits in the Lake Cushman area renewed in 1888 and apparently ...

Kalaloch

For millennia, these beaches likely offered a safe landing place for ancestors of area tribes. For thousands of sea creatures, these waters are still a safe haven. It wasn't always like this however.Sea otters used to reside near the Kalaloch ...

Olympic Hot Springs

Andrew Jacobsen was the first to report the discovery of the hot springs on Boulder Creek in the early 1890s. In 1906 Jacobsen returned to the hot springs, retrieved a bottle of its water to prove his discovery to others, ...

Lake Crescent

Lake Crescent, at the northern extremity of the park, is one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in the United States. Glacial activity carved the basin of Lake Crescent to a depth of more than 600 feet in some places.

Located ...

Staircase Road

In 1890, Lieutenant Joseph P. O'Neil led the first exploratory expedition across the entire southern stretch of the Olympic Mountains. His group of soldiers and scientists surveyed the watersheds and peaks of nine rivers and their tributaries. They cut a ...

Sol Duc Area

A local Indian legend explains how Olympic and Sol Duc Hot Springs were created. There were two dragons. One lived in the Sol Duc Valley and the other lived in the Elwha Valley. One day they came face to face ...

Hurricane Ridge

Life at Hurricane Ridge is shaped by wind and snow. Over 75 mile an hour gusts buffet the ridge, lending the name "Hurricane." The 30-35 feet of snow that falls annually lingers into summer, shaping life year-round. Its weight challenges ...

Sunshine Point Campground

During the Depression the NPS continued to define park visitors as all those people who visited the park for pleasure. The actual number of people in the park was considerably higher as hundreds of men came to work in emergency ...