Explore Olympia and Beyond

The Evergreen State College exists at a cultural crossroad. In one direction lies urban excitement. In another lies outdoor adventure. In yet another you’ll find many homegrown amenities.

As a student, you'll have easy access to oceans, mountains, rainforests, and some of America’s hippest cities. Whatever your style, you’ll find it in and around Olympia.

In Olympia

Fun in the city

Olympia Film Society

The Olympia Film Society at the Capitol Theater is a volunteer group of film lovers. The theater shows indie movies and hosts festivals, live music, and other special events. You’ll get a student discount on your admission, but you can also trade volunteer time for free tickets!

Olympia Farmers Market

Open year round, the farmers market overflows with fresh organic produce, baked goods, meats, Olympia oysters, and more—all from local sources. You can eat lunch there and enjoy family entertainment, events, and people watching.

Olympia Food Co-op

Olympia’s two food co-op locations carry a wide variety of natural foods and products. Lifetime memberships are cheap, and their bulletin boards are great for discovering new events, house shows, and opportunities around town.

Arbutus Folk School

The Arbutus Folk School mission is to ‘Enrich lives and build community through joyful, hands-on learning with master artisans.”The school provides enlivening learning experiences through a wide-range of activities focused on fostering appreciation, knowledge and access to craft, music, community, celebrations and lore.

Arts Walk

Twice a year, local artists team up with local businesses downtown to exhibit their latest masterpieces. The streets are closed to traffic while art, street performances, music, and sales abound.

The Evergreen program Awakening the Dreamer, Pursuing the Dream danced as a group in Procession of the Species in 2013.

The Music Scene

Olympia’s rich music scene can be appreciated at numerous venues, including:

Le Voyeur is a vegan restaurant, bar, and host to small local and traveling acts for all ages.
Cryptatropa hosts experimental DJs and hard rock acts.
Washington Center for the Performing Arts hosts more refined, upscale events. Take advantage of the center’s student discounts.
The Olympia Film Society frequently hosts big shows, in addition to movies.
New Traditions Cafe Fair Trade, a cafe, and community gathering place, regularly holds concerts.

Coffee Culture

Caffeine addicts rejoice. Olympia Coffee Roasting Company, Ember Goods and Dancing Goats roast up coffee locally (bonus: both businesses are staffed by Greener alumni) and there are plenty of coffeehouses, coffee bars, and coffee drive-thrus to quench your thirst.

Local parks

Olympia boasts over 900 acres of parkland—from small neighborhood nature trails to large, immersive forests and beaches. Below are just a few of the local gems to check out when you get here. For more information, see the City of Olympia’s list of parks and trails.

Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls

Next to the old Olympia brewery, this 15-acre park is a great place to picnic, hike, or witness migrating salmon returning to their birthplace to spawn. It's also the last pickup spot for tubers floating down the Deschutes River.

Capitol Lake and Percival Landing

A two-mile trail encircles Capitol Lake downtown, with views of the state capitol building and two parks nearby—Heritage and Marathon. From there, cut over to 4th Avenue—be sure to see the Heritage Park fountain on the way—for a stroll along the mile-long boardwalk around the southernmost tip of Puget Sound and views of Budd Bay and the Olympic Mountains.

Garfield Nature Trail

This short, forested trail on Olympia's West Side leads down through a 5-acre ravine, goes over several bridges, and comes out on West Bay Drive—check out the outstanding waterfront views from West Bay Park while you’re there. The trail has a bubbling creek, tall moss-covered trees and an abundance of giant ferns. It’s a taste of what Olympia would look like if Olympia wasn’t here.

Squaxin Park

One of Olympia’s biggest parks, Squaxin has upper and lower nature trails and access to a mile-long beach on the Puget Sound.

Yauger Park

This multifaceted 40-acre park offers trails, playgrounds, sports fields and an impressive skate park featuring three-feet quarter pipes and a five star with a rail going down the middle.

West Bay Park

The City of Olympia acquired over 17 acres on the west side of West Bay for a shoreline park and trail. This spectacular site provides outstanding views to the State Capitol, ship canal and Olympic peaks.

A Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program Water Access Grant and an Aquatic Lands Enhancement Grant helped to fund acquisition, development and shoreline enhancement. A partnership with local Rotary Clubs resulted in a developed overlook, hand held boat launch and other improvements.

Want more?!

Check out the local Visitor and Convention Bureau web site.

Beyond Olympia

Day trip ideas

Seattle and Portland

Visit the fast-moving cities of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle is just 60 miles up the Puget Sound and Portland is about 100 miles south on I-5. Visit the fast-moving cities of Cascadia and see what everybody’s talking about.

The Pacific Coast

Go surfing at Westport, ride go-carts at Ocean Shores, or visit the scenic northern Washington coastline near Ruby Beach and La Push, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see migrating whales swim by.

Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve

Home to a peculiar landscape of natural mounds, the preserve features several trails to wander through a rare topography and see one of the area's last remaining prairies. How were the mounds created? Visit the interpretive center to learn about the different theories, which include glacial deposits and giant prehistoric gophers! This geological phenomenon is close to Millersylvania State Park.

Capitol State Forest

Many roads lead to the Capitol Forest and its 90,000 acres of single track, logging roads, and trees. Two systems are open for hiking, horses, off-road vehicles and mountain biking. We suggest taking Hwy. 101 south to the Rock Candy Mountain entrance to find our favorite mountain biking trails and She Bear, an enormous boulder to climb. Be sure to take a map with you (or get one for your smartphone) and don’t forget your Discover Pass!

McClane Creek

McLane Creek's boardwalk provides an intimate glimpse into nature, whether it's swimming families of news, spawning salmon, or laughing ducks.

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

Protecting the south Puget Sound's Nisqually River Delta, the refuge harbors lots of wildlife and is jammed full of attractions for nature enthusiasts. More than 200 species of birds have been documented at Nisqually’s grasslands, mudflats, salt marshes, and freshwater ponds.

Wolf Haven International

This organization has rescued and provided homes to approximately 200 captive-born wolves. Learn about wolves during a scheduled guided visit of the sanctuary. Visit wolfhaven.org

Skiing and Snowboarding

Crystal Mountain, Washington’s largest ski resort, flanks the northeast corner of Mount Rainier National Park.
The Summit at Snoqualmie, with four unique base areas and a huge variety of runs, offers snowboarding and nighttime skiing (daytime, too!)
White Pass Ski Area is one of the state’s less crowded skiing and snowboarding destinations.

Regional parks

Olympic National Park

There’s nothing like it anywhere else in the world. At more than 900,000 acres, the park covers much of the Olympic Peninsula and has temperate rainforest, free-flowing rivers, alpine meadows, and glacier-topped peaks—not to mention sandy beaches and rocky offshore islands.

At Staircase, the closest part of Olympic National Park to Olympia, you’ll find a cathedral of old-growth forest. Nearby Lake Cushman offers a wealth of recreational opportunities, including camping, boating, and hiking.

Mount Rainier National Park

This huge attraction to western Washington embraces “The Mountain” (as locals call the giant of the Cascades) and 235,625 acres—97 percent of which is designated as permanent wilderness. You can hike, camp, snowshoe, climb, or just admire the awesome views.

Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

See the stunning aftermath of North America’s largest recent volcanic eruption. Traverse Ape Cave, one of the continent’s longest lava tubes. Take the easy path and see the giant “meatball” rock formation or take the longer path and scramble over fields of boulders deep under the earth. Don’t forget your headlamp and keep your eyes open for Sasquatch!

This is just a small slice of the many things that you can do in and around Olympia. There are many more shops, restaurants, towns, cities, forests, and mountains to explore. You’re sure to find something to suit your taste or mood. Bring a friend along and have fun!