The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest summit at ; however, the eastern slopes rise precipitously out of Puget Sound from sea level, and the western slopes are separated from the Pacific Ocean by the low-lying wide Pacific Ocean coastal plain. These densely forested western slopes are the wettest place in the 48 contiguous states. Most of the mountains are protected within the bounds of Olympic National Park and adjoining segments of the Olympic National Forest.
The mountains are located in western Washington in the United States, spread out across four counties: Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson and Mason. Physiographically, they are a section of the larger Pacific Border province, which is in turn a part of the larger Pacific Mountain System.
Geography
The Olympics have the form of a domed cluster of steep-sided peaks surrounded by heavily forested foothills and incised by deep valleys. They are surrounded by water on three sides, separated from the Pacific by the wide coastal plain. The general form of the range is more or less circular, or somewhat horseshoe-shaped, and the drainage pattern is radial.
Rivers radiate outwards to all sides. Clockwise from windward to leeward, the major watersheds are: Satsop, Wynoochee, Humptulips, Quinault, Queets, Hoh, Bogachiel, Sol Duc (all flowing west into the Pacific Ocean; with the Satsop, Wynoochee by way of the Chehalis River, the Humptulips by way of Grays Harbor at the mouth of the Chehalis River, and the Bogachiel and Sol Duc forming the Quillayute River within 5 miles of tidewater), Lyre, Elwha, Dungeness (all flowing north into the Strait of Juan de Fuca), Big Quilcene, Dosewallips, Duckabush, Hamma Hamma, and Skokomish (all flowing east into Hood Canal).
List of summits
Principal summits: Mount Olympus – highest point, eight glaciers Mount Constance – tallest visible from Seattle and third highest Olympic peak Mount Townsend – highly visible from Seattle at far northeast of the Olympics (technically in the Buckhorn Wilderness) Mount Anderson – West Peak of Mount Anderson is the hydrographic apex of the Olympic Mountains: From this peak, rivers flow outward to the Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Hood Canal. The Brothers – double peak visible from Seattle Mount Deception – second highest Olympic peak Mount Washington Mount Angeles Mount Stone Mount Ellinor
Other summits: Boulder Peak – located in the Elwha River area Mount Storm King – located above the east end of Lake Crescent Hurricane Ridge – road accessible mountain viewpoint near Port Angeles
Other features
Bailey Range
Lost Pass
Protected areas
A large portion of the range is contained within the Olympic National Park. Of this portion, 95% is part of the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness.
The national park is surrounded on the south, east, and northwest sides by the Olympic National Forest, with five wilderness areas, and on the southwest side by the Clearwater State Forest with one Natural Area Preserve (Washington Department of Natural Resources), and the Quinault Indian Reservation. State parks and wildlife areas occur in the lower elevations.
Climate
Precipitation varies greatly throughout the range, from the wet western slopes to the semi-arid eastern ridges. Mount Olympus, nearly tall, is a mere from the Pacific Ocean, one of the steepest reliefs globally and accounting for the high precipitation of the area, with an estimated of snow and rain on Mount Olympus. of rain falls on the Hoh Rainforest annually, receiving the most measured precipitation of anywhere in the contiguous United States. Areas to the northeast of the mountains are located in a rain shadow cast by the mountain themselves, and receive as little as of precipitation around the city of Sequim. Annual precipitation increases to about on the edges of the rain shadow around Port Townsend, the San Juan Islands, and the city of Everett across Puget Sound. 80% of precipitation falls during the winter months. On the coastal plain, the winter temperature stays between . During the summer it warms up to between , with occasional hot spell days reaching to the upper 80s to low 90s °F (30-35 °C).