Two National Parks · 129 miles apart
North Cascades or Olympic
Olympic drew 3,584,187 recreation visits in 2025, 76.4 times the 46,925 at North Cascades, so crowds are the largest difference. North Cascades charges no entrance fee while Olympic charges $30 per private vehicle. Olympic has 12 campgrounds to 10 at North Cascades. On the rest they match, since neither uses timed entry. The two parks are 129 miles apart in a straight line.
| North Cascades National Park | Olympic National Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Designation | National Park | National Park |
| States | Washington | Washington |
| Recreation visits, 2025 | 46,925 | 3,584,187 |
| Entrance fee, private vehicle | None, free to enter | $30 (Private Vehicle) |
| Timed entry reservation | No | No |
| Campgrounds | 10 | 12 |
| International Dark Sky Park | No | No |
| Bird species, NPSpecies | 225 | 263 |
| Hours or season | Open all day, every day | Open all day, every day |
North Cascades visits by yearOlympic visits by year
Fees, hours, campgrounds and timed entry from the NPS API. Visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics system. Dark sky status from DarkSky International. Bird counts from the NPSpecies inventory. Data refreshed October 14, 2026. Other pairs.