Fairholme Campground

Fairholme Campground is on Lake Crescent's west side, tucked into old-growth forest below steep mountains. It has drive-in sites and walk-in sites by the shore; a few drive-in sites also look over the water. If camping beside the lake is the point of your Olympic trip, this is a strong choice. The walk-in sites get you closest to the water, but you have to carry your gear down a short, steep path.

The campground roads are steep and narrow, with low branches and tight turns. Most sites won't fit large RVs or trailers. Some walk-in plots are uneven or sloped, and sites can sit close together; traffic from nearby US 101 can be audible. Read the individual site details before booking so you know the vehicle fit and what the walk to the lake involves.

Lake Crescent is cold, clear and glacially carved, reaching 624 feet deep. Low nitrogen limits the tiny algae that cloud many lakes, and visibility can reach about 60 feet in some places. Its Beardslee and Crescenti trout populations are found nowhere else in the world.

About 7,000 years ago, a landslide separated Lake Crescent from nearby Lake Sutherland. That isolation helped the two trout populations develop independently, one of the most surprising things about staying beside this water.

A Klallam and Quileute origin story tells of a mountain spirit dropping a boulder after a three-day battle, damming the river and forming Lake Crescent. It's a cultural origin story; the landslide is the geological explanation for how the lake became isolated from Lake Sutherland.