Olympic Hiking Co.
A commercially authorized tour company in Olympic National Park since 2016
Hello! I am Tommy Farris, Owner & Founder of Olympic Hiking Co. In January 2016, I decided to go all-in on my passion to start a guided hiking tour company in Olympic National Park in my hometown of Port Angeles, WA. Since our 2016 launch, the company has grown from an Owner/Operator model in 2016 to an 17 employee roster in 2024 that helps lead guided day tours, trailhead shuttles, and backpacking trips for about 4,000 hikers each year as a commercially authorized tour company in Olympic National Park. Whether we’re leading a group tour, facilitating a backpacker trailhead shuttle, or customizing private hiking tour, my team and I take extreme pride into helping our clients make lifelong memories while exploring Olympic National Park. These mountains, beaches, lakes, waterfalls, and rain forests are home to us and we would love to welcome you to this scenic northwest corner of the world. If you'd like to learn more about Olympic Hiking Co. and how this adventure began, please feel free to read the full story below! Happy Adventures!
Tommy Farris | Owner & Founder
About Olympic Hiking Co.
Who we are
Olympic Hiking Co. is a commercially authorized tour company that provides guided day tours, trailhead shuttles, and guided backpacking trips throughout Olympic National Park. Founded in 2016, our company is based out of Port Angeles, WA, which is the epicenter for hiking and exploring Olympic National Park. Each year, we hire a local team of Naturalist Hiking Guides, Backcountry Guides, and Trailhead Shuttle Drivers to help lead our tours and shuttles for about 4,000 hikers throughout the year.
Guided Day Tours
Olympic Hiking Co. provides guided day tours throughout the top destinations of Olympic National Park, including Lake Crescent, Hurricane Ridge, Sol Duc Falls, Hoh Rain Forest, and Pacific Coast. Throughout the year, we offer small group tours in our spacious 15 passenger tour van and Guided Snowshoe Tours in conjunction with our Winter Shuttle Bus to Hurricane Ridge. Olympic Hiking Co. also provides customized private hiking tours throughout the Olympic Peninsula. With private tours, guests are able to personalize their itinerary specific to their hiking and sightseeing goals, allowing for more customized experiences in the park. Our guided tours begin and end in Port Angeles and are led by our local team of naturalist hiking guides. Our guides continually develop an insightful tour curriculum to overview the ecology and natural wonders of Olympic National Park’s diverse ecosystems, leading a personable and interactive tour from a local hiker’s perspective.
Guided Backpacking Trips
In 2021, Olympic Hiking Co. expanded its guide roster and began offering multi-day Guided Backpacking Trips in the remote, beautiful backcountry wilderness of Olympic National Park. Since the launch of these trips, our guiding team has safely guided a wide array of clients into the backcountry including youth outdoor education groups, non-profit organizations, corporate teams, friends, and families. Our Lead Backcountry Guide is a professional EMT, Wilderness Medicine Instructor, and veteran PNW hiking guide, which allows our guiding team and clientele to enjoy a educational and safe experience while backpacking. As Olympic National Park continues to increase in popularity for “front-country” destinations, our wilderness backcountry immersions become that much more rewarding for the unique solitude and beauty that Olympic’s remote wilderness offers.
Trailhead Shuttles
With a 73-mile wilderness coast and large through hikes in the park’s interior, Olympic Hiking Co. has established an efficient backpacker trailhead shuttle service throughout Olympic National Park. We have created the “ski-lift on wheels” allowing backpackers to park at their ending trailhead and be shuttled to their starting trailhead, providing the luxury to hike the trail with their vehicle waiting for them. From April 1 - September 30, Olympic Hiking Co. manages a 6-route group trailhead shuttle schedule on the Olympic Coast and provides custom trailhead shuttles throughout other park areas upon request. Olympic Hiking Co. is able to help over 2,000 hikers with shuttles in Olympic National Park each year. Our goal is to help as many backpackers as possible each day, maximizing their time on the trails, minimizing vehicle travel, and simplifying the complicated logistics of through-hiking.
How it all started
Owner & Founder, Tommy Farris, moved to the Olympic Peninsula when he was five years old and fell in love with his new forested backyard and family hiking trail to the beach. Despite growing up in the heart of Olympic National Park, it wasn’t until moving away for college at the University of Washington in Seattle that Tommy realized how lucky he was to call Olympic “home.”
As a 19-year-old business major, Tommy had to create a new business idea for a creativity and entrepreneurship course. Tommy was shocked that most of his new college friends never had visited the Olympic Peninsula, so he began building a website to summarize the area’s top destinations and attractions for his project. Tommy started solo-hiking the top destinations of Olympic National Park to capture images for his website. Not only was he awe-struck by the stunning beauty and diversity of Olympic’s ecosystems and landscapes, but Tommy was inspired by the wide array of visitors he met from around the USA and internationally while out on trail. At that point, Tommy knew he wanted to help these travelers enjoy a deeper, more authentic, and truly local experience of Olympic National Park.
Tommy continued working on the website while obtaining his Masters in Accounting and during his first few years of work as a CPA. However, with every free second Tommy continued to explore deeper into Olympic National Park until he couldn’t ignore his passion for the outdoors and the Olympic Peninsula any longer. In 2016, Tommy left his career in Finance and went all-in to start his own Olympic National Park guided hiking tour company as a full-time independent business owner. In what started with Tommy solo-guiding in a 12 passenger van, Tommy carefully assembled and grew his Olympic Hiking Co. team to its 17 employee roster today. While the company continues to grow, his mission for Olympic Hiking Co. remains the same. Our team is driven by our shared passion to provide memorable experiences for our clients visiting Olympic National Park, creating authentic connections to the beautiful ecosystems of the Olympic Peninsula, while hopefully inspiring a deeper desire to explore the outdoors responsibly.
