By Alex Day, Marketing & Communications Director
With stunning, well-known views, accessible day hikes, and hundreds of miles of backcountry trails, Olympic National Park shines as one of the largest parks in the National Park Service system, welcoming more than 3.5 million visitors annually.
Unfortunately, in 2023 a fire burned down the iconic and historic day lodge in the park’s most visited destination: Hurricane Ridge.
When the lodge was lost, it was heartbreaking — a gut punch felt far beyond Olympic National Park. But almost immediately, the park’s community showed up. In force, and with generosity and heart.
Washington’s National Park Fund launched a Fire Relief Fund to help the park respond to the fire and within days, dozens of supporters stepped up, giving gifts large and small to help the park.
To date, 90 donors have contributed to the Fire Relief Fund, including 70 first-time supporters of WNPF. That kind of response doesn’t just help a park recover. It reminds everyone how deeply this place is loved.
Thanks to that generosity, Fire Relief Fund dollars are already hard at work. The fire destroyed the park’s two popular webcams at Hurricane Ridge, but donations enabled the purchase of new and improved webcams along with dedicated viewing equipment for the park’s primary Visitor Center in Port Angeles.
Now the webcams at Hurricane Ridge are once again sharing weather, snow conditions, and sweeping views with the public and helping park staff guide visitors on how — and when — to visit responsibly.
Funds have also covered the ongoing rental of temporary restrooms, a decidedly unflashy but essential component of keeping this fragile, high-elevation area accessible while long-term plans take shape.
Most recently, donations funded something as important as infrastructure: community input.
Earlier this month, Olympic National Park hosted a public listening session in Port Angeles to begin shaping the future of Hurricane Ridge. With support from WNPF, hundreds of community members gathered for an informal, gallery-style event complete with Post-it notes to capture memories and ideas.
The room buzzed with reunions, stories, and a shared sense that this wasn’t just about rebuilding a structure — it was about honoring decades of connection while imagining what comes next.
Community members spoke from the heart. Park staff listened. And the message was clear: Hurricane Ridge matters to all of us, and we want to be part of its future.
“This session demonstrated a high level of trust and engagement between Olympic National Park and the Hurricane Ridge community,” shared Tony Hoskins, WNPF Board Chair.
“The turnout, tone, and depth of participation all suggest that the new day lodge is not viewed as a routine infrastructure project, but as something deeply personal and meaningful.”
Conversations in the room and Post-it notes left on the prompts provided by the park reflected decades of memories, from family traditions to seasonal rituals, first experiences in snow, learning moments, and recollections of the lodge as both a destination and a threshold to the landscape beyond.
Many of the comments reflected both nostalgia and hope — a collective desire to see something rebuilt that respects the past while serving future generations.
Though the fire was an immeasurable tragedy, there’s no doubt that it reinforced something important: when supporters and park lovers come together, they can do amazing things. From immediate response to long-term vision, the Fire Relief Fund has always been about showing up — together.
When it comes to the new facility at Hurricane Ridge, we’re excited to continue supporting Olympic National Park through the planning process ahead and, when the time comes, the rebuilding itself.
The roles for public funding, federal resources, and philanthropy are still being defined, but thanks to this community, Hurricane Ridge isn’t just recovering; it’s moving forward. We anticipate the new facility won’t simply offer a replacement of the experiences we’ve shared there — it will offer something even better: a reimagined experience for visitors in the years ahead and for the generations to follow.
Washington’s National Park Fund is the official philanthropic partner of Mount Rainier, North Cascades, and Olympic National Parks. Your gifts directly support vital projects in trail maintenance, science and research, youth and family programs, and more. You can join the movement and support efforts to restore Hurricane Ridge at wnpf.org/donate.
Photos courtesy of Ken and Mary Campbell, the National Park Service, and Tony Hoskins