Olympic National Park’s Upper Hoh Road set to reopen after long closure
The Upper Hoh Rain Forest road is finally set to open again. That means that Washington’s iconic temperate rainforest, one of the most-visited parts of Olympic National Park, will reopen on Thursday, May 8, after a months-long closure.
Hoh Rain Forest has been closed to visitors since a December 2024 storm caused a washout on the Upper Hoh Road, the primary access point for vehicles. After Jefferson County struggled to secure funding for the repair, leading to concerns that the road wouldn’t reopen in time for summer, Governor Bob Ferguson authorized a $650,000 emergency funding package in March. The package included $623,000 from the Economic Development Strategic Reserve Account and $27,000 in private donations.
Facilities and amenities inside the rainforest will reopen at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, after state and local officials hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 12:00 p.m., Jefferson County announced in a news release.
Hoh Rain Forest to reopen before summer
The repair comes just in time for summer, Olympic National Park’s busiest season. Last year, the park saw 2.48 million visits between June and September, according to National Park Service data, compared to 2.32 million over the other eight months of the year. The Hoh Rain Forest saw around 459,000 total visits in 2024, 240,000 of which were between June and September.
According to Ferguson’s comments in the announcement of the reopening, if the repairs hadn’t been made, it would have hurt the surrounding communities, which rely on the money that tourists bring in.
“The Hoh Rain Forest is an iconic destination for visitors and a critical driver of tourism dollars that rural communities rely on,” Ferguson said in the news release. “I’m grateful to all the elected officials, community members and small businesses who came together to make this happen.”
How Hoh Rain Forest repair happened
The repair had previously been in doubt after the Federal Highway Administration denied Jefferson County’s request for funding under its Emergency Relief program, since a repair needs to be related to a state or federal emergency proclamation in order to be eligible.
Governor Ferguson then offered the $650,000 funding package that Jefferson County used for the repair.
“When I learned there was a real possibility this road failure could mean visitors were shut out of the Hoh Rain Forest during peak visitor season, I knew we had to act,” Ferguson said in a press release. “I asked my team to look for ways we could help get the road open.”
The repairs were completed within two months of the funding becoming available.
The governor also amended an earlier emergency declaration for road damage caused by November’s “bomb cyclone” storm to include Jefferson County, although there’s been no indication so far that it’s led the Federal Highway Administration to change its decision. In April, the Federal Emergency Management Administration separately denied Washington’s request for emergency funds related to the bomb cyclone.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Olympic National Park’s Upper Hoh Road set to reopen after long closure."