A horse stands in a field of wildflowers on the outskirts of Sequim, Washington. Although the Olympic Mountains are a rain trap for the moist Pacific winds that annually dump 140 inches (366 centimeters) of percipitation on the range's winward slopes, they also cast a "rain shadow" over the northeast side of the peninsula. This happy fact gives Sequim the nickname, "Sunny Sequim."

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Olympic Peninsula," May 1984, National Geographic magazine)