Olympic Mountains

* Completely redesigned for easier use * Includes five new hikes, more photos, and expanded route descriptions * "The best book for trail descriptions in the Olympics." - The San Francisco Chronicle With its moss-draped rain forests, alpine meadows brimming with wildflowers, and snow-capped mountains, the Olympic Peninsula is a hiker's paradise. Explore the Cat Creek Way Trail, a high-country route to a view of Oyster Lake, or trek along the Appleton Pass Trail where you might spy a fat marmot perched on one of the boulders along the path. This new edition of a tried-and-true classic to hiking the Olympic Peninsula contains all the facts for both day hikes and overnight backpack trips. You'll find information on 177 hikes in the Olympic Mountains and extensive material on history, geology, native plants, and wildlife. Also find in this hiking guidebook numbered hikes for quick reference; detailed information blocks for each trail; and weather information for each section of the Olympic Mountains.

In 1889 Washington's then governor, Elisha Ferry, called on men of adventure to cross the Olympic Mountains, a range shrouded in mystery. The Seattle Press, the state's primary newspaper, stepped up to the challenge, sponsoring the Press Expedition. And soon departed a band of men into the mountains during one of the worst winters in recorded history...

The only climbing guide devoted to Washington's Olympic National Park--now completely updated and expanded with more than thirty percent additional new material.

You'll find new information on 177 hikes and extensive material on history, geology, native plants, and wildlife. New features in this updated, expanded edition include: numbered hikes for quick reference; detailed information blocks for each trail; and weather information for each section of the Olympics.

CLICK HERE to download author Craig Romano's favorite hike from the book, Bogachiel Peak * More than 100 day hikes, with options for linking them to longer routes * Compact, easy-carry size * Two color maps, charts and elevation profiles This handsome guide is full of charts and easy-to-find information that will help you quickly select your ideal hike. And once you're on the trail, you'll enjoy the sidebars on flora and fauna, and historical highlights that accompany many of the routes. There is a full-color front map and then two-color section maps, along with clear driving directions to the trail head, options for nearby camping, ratings for trail difficulty and photos of what you'll see on your hike. Hikes are typically less than 12 miles round trip. The Day Hiking series guidebooks are the most comprehensive and attractive trail guides available for Washington state. **Mountaineers Books designates 1 percent of the sales of select guidebooks in our Day Hiking series toward volunteer trail maintenance. Since launching this program, we've contributed more than $14,000 toward improving trails. For this book, our 1 percent of sales is going to Washington Trails Association (WTA). WTA hosts more than 750 work parties throughout Washington's Cascades and Olympics each year, with volunteers clearing downed logs after spring snowmelt, cutting away brush, retreading worn stretches of trail, and building bridges and turnpikes. Their efforts are essential to the land managers who maintain thousands of acres on shoestring budgets.

The Olympic Mountains rise up from the sea with moss-draped forests growing right to the water's edge. Glaciers crown steep slopes while alpine meadows and lush valleys teem with elk, deer, cougars, bears, and species known nowhere else on earth. The Olympic National Park was created in 1938 to protect the grandeur of the Olympic Mountains. The rugged coastal area was added in 1953. To further protect this remnant of wild America, Congress designated 95 percent of the park as the Olympic Wilderness in 1988. Today it is recognized as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site and one of the most popular wilderness destinations in North America. It is a place that changed the people who would conquer it. Farmers gave up; miners found no riches; loggers reforested. Tourism came early and endures.

Key to exploring these challenging peaks is this classic climber's guide to the Olympics. Here are detailed route descriptions for the hard basalt lava peaks of Constance and The Brothers, the high-angle faces of The Needles and Sawtooth Ridge, the hard sandstone and vast glaciers of Mt. Olympus, and hundreds of other mountains large and small. The text also provides general information on the mountains and all access routes, plus winter travel information, ski and snowshoe routes, and high alpine traverses.