Bogachiel State Park
185395 US-101
Forks, WA
A small, deeply green rainforest park on a wild salmon river, an easy, uncrowded taste of the Olympic rainforest right off Highway 101.
Bogachiel State Park is the easy, low-key way to step into the Olympic rainforest. It is a small, thickly wooded camping park spread along the banks of the Bogachiel River just south of Forks, right off Highway 101, where you can wander among moss-hung maples and towering conifers without a permit, a long detour, or a crowd. For a place this green and wild, it is remarkably simple to reach.
The park's name comes from the river, an English approximation of a Quileute word often translated as muddy or turbulent water, and the river is the heart of the place. This is one of the rainiest spots in the country, and all that water grows an emerald, dripping forest and feeds a salmon and steelhead stream with real fishing reputation. It makes a quiet, restful base for exploring the far northwest tip of Washington.
What Guests Love
- A genuine, moss-draped temperate rainforest you can walk into without a long drive or a permit
- A quiet, uncrowded riverside campground under big trees, a peaceful base near Forks
- Fishing the Bogachiel River, one of the peninsula's storied salmon and steelhead streams
- The lush, dripping-green feel of the rainforest, spectacular even in the rain
Worth Knowing
- This is one of the rainiest corners of the Lower 48, so waterproof gear and boots matter here in any season
- The park is small and simple; it is a quiet base and a rainforest sampler, not a big attraction with lots of facilities
- The river can run high and fast in wet months, so keep well back from the banks, especially with children
- The deep rainforest at nearby Hoh needs a longer drive and can fill up, so start early if you plan to add it
Details
Forks, WA
Learn about Bogachiel State Park
A rainforest on a shoestring
Bogachiel became a state park in 1931, but in the lean years of the Great Depression the state had almost no money to run it. So it did something practical and neighborly: it teamed up with the local Bogachiel Commercial Club and the Forks Chamber of Commerce to jointly operate the land as a public park. For years the community itself helped keep the little park going.
State Parks did not begin staffing Bogachiel with its own people until 1961. That homegrown history suits the place, which has always been more of a working, local park than a polished showpiece. It remains small and unfussy, a wooded riverside stop that the region has looked after for the better part of a century.
Where the rain builds a forest
The western Olympic Peninsula catches astonishing amounts of rain, on the order of 140 to 160 inches in a year, and Bogachiel sits right in that wet belt at the lower edge of the Hoh rainforest system. All that moisture grows a classic temperate rainforest: bigleaf maples furred with moss, sword ferns crowding the forest floor, and tall Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and red cedar filtering the light to a soft green.
The Bogachiel River runs clear and cold through it all, tumbling down out of the Olympic Mountains toward the coast. It is legendary among peninsula anglers for its runs of salmon and steelhead, and fly-fishing along its riffles is a longtime local tradition. Even for those who never cast a line, the river and its rainforest banks are the whole point, green and alive and quietly dramatic.
Visiting Bogachiel
Because it sits right on Highway 101 south of Forks, Bogachiel is one of the most accessible slices of Olympic rainforest you will find. You can pull in for a short walk among the mossy trees, picnic by the river, or camp overnight under the big canopy, using it as a peaceful base for the wider peninsula. It is small and simple by design, so come for the atmosphere rather than for a long list of facilities.
Come prepared for rain, because this is one of the wettest places in the Lower 48 and the forest is at its most magical when it is dripping. Bring waterproof layers and good boots, keep back from the fast-running river, and treat the fragile mossy ground gently. For anyone driving the loop out to Forks, the coast, or the Hoh, Bogachiel is a quiet, green, wonderfully easy introduction to the rainforest world of the Olympic Peninsula.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Forks
Forks
About 6 miles
The rainy logging town north of the park, the main hub for gas, food, and lodging on the western peninsula.
Hoh Rain Forest
About 30 miles
The famous Olympic National Park rainforest, with the Hall of Mosses trail among the greenest, most cathedral-like woods in America.
Rialto Beach
About 20 miles
A wild Pacific beach of driftwood logs, sea stacks, and the sea arch at Hole-in-the-Wall, near the Quileute village of La Push.
Lake Crescent
About 45 miles
A deep, clear glacial lake in the mountains to the north, with the short trail to Marymere Falls and a historic lodge.