The Olympic Peninsula, a region consisting of lands west of Puget Sound and Interstate 5, is one of the least explored areas of the state as far as waterfalls are concerned. There are two distinct parts to the region – the Olympic Mountains and the low lying coastal hills bounding Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor.
The vast majority of the waterfalls which occur within the Olympic Peninsula fall within Olympic National Park – the states largest. The majority of the park is wilderness area and thus is difficult to access and explore. Take into account much of the Olympic Mountains are covered with a vast temperate rain forest which sprouts some of the thickest brush in the Northwest and the result will be very few waterfalls have been properly documented in the area. While the Olympic Mountains are significant, topped out by glacier clad 7,965 foot Mount Olympus, and the waterfalls are plenty among them, moving south towards the hills north of the Columbia River, the density of known waterfalls drops dramatically. Much of the land north of the Columbia River falls within commercial tree farms and public entry is difficult, so what few waterfalls are known to occur in the area are generally not accessible. |
