This Olympic National Park gem offers trails tame but exquisite, like Hall of Mosses, and treks into forest and mountain wilderness. Birders find flycatchers, vireos, woodpeckers, Gray-crowned Rosy Finches. See Olympic Loop of the Great Washington State Birding Trail.

Area Birding

HABITAT: Olympic National Park old-growth rainforest; wetlands, Hoh River.

BIRDING: Riparian deciduous trees rustle with Hammond’s Flycatchers, Warbling Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warblers, Downy Woodpeckers. Stately conifers sustain Hairy and Pileated Woodpeckers, Pacific-slope Flycatchers, Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Ponds host Green-winged Teals, Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers.

VIEWING: Walk 0.7-mile Hall of Mosses loop, 1.2-mile Spruce Nature Trail.

ACCESS: From Hwy 101 at milepost 178.5, turn east onto Upper Hoh Rd. Drive 19 miles. Park at visitor center.

MORE BIRDING: For seriously hardy birders, 18.5-mile Hoh River Trail ascends to alpine meadows for Gray-crowned Rosy Finches, Black Swifts.