National Parks and Rain Forest?

[Jenifer andersons]

good information,thanks

[sean98125]

The rainforests are on the ocean side of the Olympic Peninsula and are at least a three to four hour drive to get there.

You can get to the eastern side of Olympic National Park in about two hours, but access is more limited.

There are two other National Parks within about two hours of Seattle - North Cascades NP and Mount Rainier NP. North Cascades has some spectacular scenery, as does Mt. Rainier, BUT two hours puts you at the entrance to the park. It takes more time to get in to the really big scenery. (There is a National Park IN Seattle, in Pioneer Square, but it doesn't sound like that is what you are looking for.)

If you have a day, then loop around Mt. Rainier. Enter the park on 410 out of Enumclaw, make the drive up to Sunrise, then loop through Ohanapecosh to Stevens Canyon and Paradise, then exit through Nisqually and make your way home. If there is one mountain trip that you can make, Mt. Rainier will show you more than any other place in the state. Dense low elevation forests, alpine meadows, glaciers, cliffs, examples of vulcanism, good visitor centers, bubbling thermal springs at Longmire, and a mountain that is breathtakingly beautiful. There are plenty of places to pull over and look around, or just to sit for a few moments and take it all in.