We can’t get enough of Olympic National Park.

Over the years, the park has been one of our favorite RVing destinations. And we’re not alone -- Olympic National Park regularly ranks in the top 10 most visited national parks annually.

Earlier this month, we visited again with a trip to Kalaloch on the wild coast and Heart o’ the Hills campground on the road to Hurricane Ridge. The two locations are starkly different -- one sits in a coastal rainforest, the other near the park’s highest roadway.

And that environmental diversity is what makes Olympic National Park so special.

Fortunately for RVers, most of the park’s front-country campgrounds are open year-round. Fall is a particularly beautiful time to take a trip to this wild, sometimes-wet and always-beautiful national treasure.

Kalaloch

We’ve stayed at Kalaloch campground so many times we’ve lost count. What keeps us coming back is the pristine sandy beach, part of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. This designation helps make Kalaloch a particularly interesting place for bird life, and the beach seems to go on for miles.

Just down the road from the campground is Kalaloch Lodge, with a small store, cabins and rooms from rent. Also nearby is the Hoh Rainforest, which receives 140 inches of rain a year, creating an otherworldly green landscape of big trees, ferns, mushrooms and moss.

Camping reservations at Kalaloch can be difficult to come by in the summer, but fall calms down quite a bit. We were able to book our site on a Saturday two weeks ahead of our visit. We like the D loop -- try for one of the bluff campsites overlooking the ocean.

The broad strand near the campground is the perfect place for a long walk after dinner -- or do what we did and grab a football for a quick toss-around.

Heart o’ the Hills

Out of Port Angeles on the park’s north side, Heart o’ the Hills is just inside the park entrance on the road to Hurricane Ridge. It’s a first-come, first-served campground that never seems to fill up, and it’s open year-round.

The main reason for staying at Heart o’ the Hills is the access to the trails at Hurricane Ridge at 5,242 feet, a beautiful landscape of subalpine meadows overlooking the vast park to the south. On a clear day, you’ll have incredible views of the Bailey Range and Mount Olympus beyond.

Many of the trails are paved, making them accessible to wheelchairs with assistance. We headed toward Mount Angeles off the Klahhane Ridge trail for an afternoon hike, then came back to the parked rig for a dinner of mushroom ramen and spicy mussels while we took in the views from Hurricane Ridge. RVs are nice for many reasons, but having a kitchen anytime we want one might be our favorite.

The historic visitor center at Hurricane Ridge burned down in 2023. The debris has been removed and temporary bathrooms are now available.

Other park attractions

Our latest trip encompassed just a small portion of Olympic National Park. At more than 900,000 acres, there’s a lot to see.

Besides Kalaloch, you can find coastal campgrounds at Mora, near La Push, and Ozette, near the town of Seiku. In the rainforest,  Hoh Campground is a favorite.

What makes Olympic National Park special is how unchanged and wild it remains -- most of it is truly wilderness. It’s among the best illustrations for why America’s national park system is the envy of the world.

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