From Washington To You
Moss-covered fallen logs and living trees in the Hoh Rain Forest of Olympic National Park.
Photograph by Olympic National Park, National Park Service. Public domain.

From Washington to you

Hoh Rain Forest

Hoh Rain Forest · Jefferson County

Pacific storms drop 12 to 14 feet of rain a year on one of the last primeval temperate rain forests in the lower 48.

On the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, the Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Bogachiel valleys hold some of the most spectacular remaining temperate rain forest in the contiguous United States. Those forests once stretched from southern Oregon to southeast Alaska. Little now remains outside protected land.

Storms off the Pacific drop most of their moisture on these west-facing valleys. The National Park Service reports 140 to 167 inches of precipitation a year — 12 to 14 feet. Winters stay mild. Summer highs rarely exceed 80°F. Sitka spruce and western hemlock dominate. Many trees are hundreds of years old and can reach 250 feet.

Mosses, ferns, and lichens grow on trunks and branches. Roosevelt elk keep the understory open. The Hoh visitor area is about 90 miles west of Port Angeles. The sources below are Olympic National Park's public description of the forest.

  • Geography & Geology
  • Wildlife & Ecology

Sources (2)

Last reviewed: September 20, 2026

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