Olympic National Park road closures in 2026.

Every Olympic road and its status.

Olympic doesn't publish opening and closing dates for its roads. Its current road conditions page lists each road as open, closed, or partly closed, with the date of that road's last update, and NPS updates it as soon as new reports come in. The hours page gives only a general pattern: from October through May, some roads, campgrounds, and other facilities are closed or have reduced hours, and other roads stay open, weather permitting. So the table below is the park's status as of its August 7, 2026 update, not a 2026 schedule.

No calendar: open roads and washouts.

On the park's latest updates, 13 of the 18 roads on its table are open, and the table gives none of them a season. One other NPS page does: the Hurricane Ridge page says Obstruction Point Road is open from mid-June through October 15, weather and snow permitting. No road on the table crosses the park. Each one runs in from a highway or another road, like Sol Duc Road, 14 miles from Highway 101, so you drive back out to reach the next area. NPS says getting between areas can take anywhere from half an hour to four hours or more. Hurricane Ridge Road, listed open on May 4, 2026, may open or close depending on road conditions and weather.

Three roads are closed to cars by washouts, and NPS gives no repair timeline for any of them. Olympic Hot Springs Road in the Elwha valley and Whiskey Bend Road, which leaves from it, have been listed closed to vehicles since the table's May 7, 2021 update. Both are open to pedestrians, bicycles, and dogs on leashes, and the Madison Falls parking area is open, with limited parking and space to turn around. Dosewallips Road is closed by a washout outside the park boundary, 6.5 miles from the campground, and is open to pedestrians and bicycles only.

South Shore Quinault Road is partly closed by a washout in Jefferson County, about 8 miles from Highway 101. The county maintains that road, so repair news comes from the county, not the park. Its closure page says the erosion crossed both lanes and made the road impassable, and that on November 26, 2025 the county received emergency repair funding and is now working through permits before bidding construction. Graves Creek Road, which starts from South Shore Road, is reached via North Shore Road only.

2026: the Hoh River Bridge and Mora Road.

The biggest 2026 closure isn't a park road. The Washington State Department of Transportation is closing the Highway 101 Hoh River Bridge, south of Forks and the Hoh Rain Forest, to all traffic. Overnight closures run 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. each night from Monday, September 14 to Tuesday, September 22. Then come three extended closures: 5 a.m. Thursday, September 24 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 29; 5 a.m. Thursday, October 1 to noon Tuesday, October 6; and 5 a.m. Thursday, October 8 to noon Tuesday, October 13. The 95-year-old bridge is too narrow to keep a lane open during the work. After each six-day closure it is inspected, then reopens to single-lane alternating traffic.

There is no detour across the Hoh River. During the closures you can't drive Highway 101 from anywhere north of the bridge to anywhere south of it, and going around the east side of the Olympic Peninsula adds at least four hours. North of the bridge: Port Angeles, Hurricane Ridge, the Elwha River Valley, Lake Crescent, the Sol Duc River Valley, Lake Ozette, Forks, the Mora coastal area, and the Hoh Rain Forest. South of it: the Kalaloch coastal area, the Queets and Quinault rainforests, Amanda Park, Ocean Shores, and Aberdeen. If a trip in those weeks covers both sides, plan each side as its own stretch and cross outside the closure windows. Read the NPS closure page before you book.

Mora Road is closed past Mora Campground to pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles from July 8 to October 15, 2026, while crews repair damage from a severe winter flood and fortify the road against river migration. Rialto Beach can't be reached by Mora Road until then, but Mora Campground is open. Separately, an NPS alert warns of lengthy delays at the Hoh Rain Forest entrance station between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Plan for a 1 to 3+ hour wait, because traffic is metered once the parking lot fills.

Winter at Hurricane Ridge.

Hurricane Ridge Road, 17 paved miles, has its own winter schedule, and its winter season is generally late November through the end of March. In that season it is typically open to uphill traffic 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Friday through Sunday and some holidays, weather and road conditions permitting, and it can open as late as noon. It is closed on Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day. From November 1 through April 1, every vehicle going above the Heart O' the Hills entrance station must carry tire chains, 4-wheel drive included. In spring 2026, from March 31 through April 30, the road opened or closed depending on road conditions and weather.

There is no lodge to warm up in. The Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge was lost to a fire in 2023, and temporary trailers now hold restrooms and a contact station staffed intermittently Friday through Sunday. NPS says to be ready to use your car as a warming area and to pack extra food, water, dry clothing, and blankets or sleeping bags. Our Olympic in winter page covers the rest.

How crowds follow summer.

With no road calendar to follow, Olympic's crowd follows summer. May averages 40% of the visits of August, the busiest month. June is 48% and July 80%.

September still averages 67% of August, and October 42%. In 2026 the Hoh River Bridge closures fall in exactly those weeks, so a September or October trip that mixes the Hoh with Kalaloch or Quinault needs the closure dates on the calendar first. Winter is quiet: December averages 16% of August and January 13%, while Hurricane Ridge Road runs its weekend schedule. The best time to visit Olympic page weighs the months, and the September guide covers the month the closures begin.

RVs, gravel, and the drive in.

Many of Olympic's side roads are no place for a big rig. Deer Park, Obstruction Point, and Hurricane Hill roads are not suitable for RVs or trailers, and Graves Creek Road prohibits them. Lower Queets and North Fork Quinault roads are not recommended for RVs and trailers, and Upper Queets Road is not recommended for large RVs and trailers. Deer Park Road is gravel, narrow, and windy, with numerous blind corners and limited pullouts.

The drive to Highway 101 has its own closures. State Route 104 crosses the Hood Canal Bridge, which closes periodically for boat traffic, and Washington State Ferries routes cross Puget Sound to the peninsula. Leave extra time if you are catching a flight. Our Olympic airports page compares the drives.

Common questions.

Can I drive through Olympic National Park?

Not across it. No road on the park's road table crosses the park. Each one runs in from a highway, such as Sol Duc Road, 14 miles from Highway 101, and NPS says travel between areas can take half an hour to four hours or more. In 2026, Highway 101 itself is cut at the Hoh River Bridge on the closure dates above, and there is no detour across the river.

Is the Hoh Rain Forest closed?

No. Upper Hoh Road, 18 paved miles from Highway 101, is listed open (road table update May 5, 2026). The catch is the wait: an NPS alert says lengthy delays are likely at the entrance station between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., so plan for 1 to 3+ hours. The Hoh Rain Forest is north of the 2026 Hoh River Bridge closures, so you can still reach it from Forks and Port Angeles, but not from Kalaloch or Quinault while the bridge is closed.

Is Hurricane Ridge Road open today?

It depends on the day. The park's road table listed it open on May 4, 2026, but NPS says it may open or close depending on road conditions and weather. In winter, generally late November through March, it is typically open to uphill traffic 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday and some holidays, and it is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Call (360) 565-3131 for recorded road and weather information, updated daily.

Is Olympic National Park open today?

Yes. Olympic is open 24 hours a day, year-round. What changes is road access. In 2026, Mora Road past the campground is closed until October 15, three roads are closed to cars by washouts, and the Highway 101 Hoh River Bridge closes on set dates through October 13. The NPS road conditions page has each road's latest status.

Does a government shutdown close Olympic's roads?

Generally, no. The current National Park Service contingency plan says park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors during a lapse in appropriations. It also says parks will not provide regular road or trail condition updates, and that an area must be closed if access becomes a safety issue, such as weather or road conditions. At a park where road status changes with the weather, the road table and the recorded line may not keep up.

Where these facts come from

Road status, mileage, vehicle limits, the washouts, the Mora Road closure, and the recorded line come from the NPS current road conditions page (updated August 7, 2026); the Hoh River Bridge dates, affected areas, and no-detour note from the NPS Highway 101 closure page (updated September 8, 2026), which links WSDOT; the Hoh entrance delays, Mora Campground, and South Shore maintenance notes from the park's alerts; winter hours, chains, and the day lodge from the NPS Hurricane Ridge in winter page; Obstruction Point Road's mid-June to October 15 window from the NPS Visiting Hurricane Ridge page; park hours, the October-to-May pattern, and the Thanksgiving closure from the NPS hours page (updated April 18, 2024). The South Shore Quinault repair status comes from Jefferson County; the Hood Canal Bridge and ferry notes from the NPS directions page; travel time between areas from the NPS FAQ page. The shutdown answer comes from the September 2025 National Park Service contingency plan posted on the Department of the Interior shutdown page. The road lines on the map are OpenStreetMap geometry between OSM nodes, routed by OSRM (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); they show where each road runs, not its closure gates. The Hoh River Bridge pin is the US 101 bridge over the Hoh River in OpenStreetMap. Crowd numbers are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package on NPS IRMA Stats. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.