Olympic National Park News

Beginning at 7:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month from November through May, this year's series will offer windows into a wide range of Olympic National Park topics including the recent discovery of a fossil sea star near Kalaloch, snorkel trips, and high-mountain archeology.

Hurricane Ridge, high in the mountains above Port Angeles, Wash., will be open Friday through Sunday this winter, plus school holidays, for winter recreation.

Crews struggled to get Andy Palmer, 18, to a hospital after he was injured during a firefighting mop-up operation in July 2008.

Wending scenic Pacific Coast Highway through Olympic Peninsula, it's easy to see why Washington is called the Evergreen State.

The fog seems to float atop Lake Quinault, and a bird's forlorn screech reinforces the ghostly aura as we check into Lake Quinault Lodge.

The fall color of maple trees reflect in the waters of the Sol Duc River near Bear Creek.

Bella's 1953 Chevy pick-up. Finally, the West Coast has an answer to Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," and, most recently, "The Lost Symbol." Like fans of those two mega-selling page-turners, readers of Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance series "Twilight" can tramp around the tiny town of Forks, Wash.

Officials with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife have approved the first dig of the fall season to start Friday.

Getting across the Elwha River on the newly christened, double-deck Elwha River bridge is easy for both drivers and pedestrians and bicyclists.

Not until I was offered the chance to attend a county fair in a small Washington state county did I realize how few county fairs, other than the one here in Middle Park, I've ever seen.

A popular tubing and sliding area for older children and adults at Hurricane Ridge is too dangerous to be opened this winter season, park officials said.

In North Cascades National Park, fireweed edges the trail to Easy Pass. Visitors head to the driftwood-strewn Rialto Beach in Washington's Olympic National Park to watch the sunset.

Will this be the scene at Kalaloch Beach in Olympic National Park this fall? Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife photo.

Thank you to all of the OregonLive.com users who submitted their stunning summer photos into the My Summer Vacation photo contest .

THAT SOCIALIST OBAMA is at it again. Another round of free handouts is coming down the pike.

It will be national parks, just about all the time, next week on public television .

"Did you see the bear?" the backpacker standing at the side of the trail asked. "He sure saw you." This photo taken Aug.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL Words by Katherine Bates Photos by David Wilson father of Bill Wilson taken in 1962 O beautiful for spacious skies Mt Diablo, California For amber waves of grain Midwest For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! A midwestern farmer.

Olympic National Park invites the public to celebrate National Public Lands Day and Americaa s best idea on Saturday, September 26.

FORGET A SHOTGUN wedding. The Sol Duc summer coho simply can't wait. Hordes of the coho began leaping at the behest of their libidos at the Sol Duc Salmon Cascades earlier this month.