With over 373,000 hectares of glaciated mountains, lakes, ancient woodland, alpine meadows, rivers, and rambling coastline, Olympic National Park is one of the most diverse national parks in the US. It's home to one of the world’s most significant expanses of virgin temperate rainforest – one of many reasons Olympic achieved UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 1981.

The park also contains critical populations of endangered animals, such as the northern spotted owl, and fascinating endemic wildlife that has thrived here largely undisturbed.

The best national park in every state

America's World Heritage Sites and their surprising stories