Olympic National Park was the backdrop to Tommy Farris’ life growing up in Freshwater Bay and attending Crescent High School.

It was the inspiration for a project when he was a student at the University of Washington.

Today it’s the foundation of his business, Olympic Hiking Co., which offers guided tours, backpacking trips and shuttles for those who want to trek in the nearly 1 million acre park.

“I didn’t grow up exploring Olympic National Park camping or hiking,” Farris told the Port Angeles Business Association at its Aug. 8 meeting.

“Hurricane Ridge was a fun sledding hill and Lake Crescent is a great place to swim, but I didn’t know or really appreciate the economic driver that Olympic National Park was growing up here.”

At college, he was struck by how many people he met had never ventured west of Seattle, so as part of an assignment in one of his classes, he built a website on where to go and what to do on the Olympic Peninsula. He continued working on it after the class ended and developed it into a business plan.

After earning an undergraduate degree in business and a master’s in accounting, in 2014 he returned to Port Angeles, where he got a job with First Fed.

In 2016, he reached what he called a “tipping point.”

“I said, well, I either continue this path I’m on or I give this business a shot, and so I decided to go all in,” said Farris, who is president of the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce board and serves on the board of State of Washington Tourism.

Farris listed his house on Airbnb, navigated the red tape of applying for a commercial operator permit with Olympic National Park, purchased a passenger van and registered it with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, and assembled the required insurance and legal documents to get Olympic Hiking Co. off the ground.

“It was basically just me and a 12-person van and a whole lot of zeal,” he said.

What really helped get his company off the ground, Farris said, was a partnership with Black Ball Ferry Line. He had seen a need for guided tours in the park and Black Ball was looking for just such a service it could promote to passengers and be timed for ferry arrivals and departures.

The following year, Olympic Hiking Co. hired its first naturalist hiking guide who helped develop what Farris called its “tour curriculum.” This approach toward the outdoor experience has become the company’s hallmark, he said.

“When we take folks out on a guided tour, we’re not just hiking them from point A to point B,” he said. “We have local naturalist guides that really dive into the natural history of the area, speak to the ecology and identify the various trees and plants and things that they’re seeing.”

About half of Olympic Hiking Co.’s 3,000 yearly customers use its trailhead shuttle, which solves the logistical problem of what to do when the hike or backpacking trip you want to take begins and ends at different trailheads.

Farris listed his house on Airbnb, navigated the red tape of applying for a commercial operator permit with Olympic National Park, purchased a passenger van and registered it with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, and assembled the required insurance and legal documents to get Olympic Hiking Co. off the ground.

“It was basically just me and a 12-person van and a whole lot of zeal,” he said.

What really helped get his company off the ground, Farris said, was a partnership with Black Ball Ferry Line. He had seen a need for guided tours in the park and Black Ball was looking for just such a service it could promote to passengers and be timed for ferry arrivals and departures.

The following year, Olympic Hiking Co. hired its first naturalist hiking guide who helped develop what Farris called its “tour curriculum.” This approach toward the outdoor experience has become the company’s hallmark, he said.

“When we take folks out on a guided tour, we’re not just hiking them from point A to point B,” he said. “We have local naturalist guides that really dive into the natural history of the area, speak to the ecology and identify the various trees and plants and things that they’re seeing.”

About half of Olympic Hiking Co.’s 3,000 yearly customers use its trailhead shuttle, which solves the logistical problem of what to do when the hike or backpacking trip you want to take begins and ends at different trailheads.

“Olympic has changed so much from when I started in 2016 when I never had a two- or three-hour wait on a Thursday in the summertime to get into the Hoh Rain Forest, but that’s a new reality,” Farris said.

Promoting the area as a beautiful, year-round destination and recommending sites and experiences that spread visitation beyond the summer and the most popular sites will be key.

“I think that is going to be our best way to make the Olympic Peninsula a great place to visit and experience,” Farris said.