Adventure Through the Olympic Coast

 

Adventure Through the Olympic Coast

Every year at this time, as we get ready to set off on a camping trip, I can’t help but reminisce about our first Northwest camping adventure.

My husband and I, both Midwesterners, wanted to leave the flat lands. So we looked West. But before we decided where to lay down some roots, we wanted to take a trip to explore both Portland and Seattle.

Since we didn’t really know the area well, I devoured as much info as I could find online. We decided on Dosewallips State Park for the Washington leg of our camping trip. Not really our usual selection, it’s definitely car camping – 100 sites that all accommodate RVs. On the plus side, it had showers – a real treat from our usual selections. The other good thing, it was centrally located.  So exploring the Northern and Southern parts of the Olympic Coast was possible.

Soon August came and off we went on our NW adventure. Unfortunately, we ended up delayed and weren’t able to pick up our rental car until the wee hours of the morning. While this was pretty bad in and off itself, we would later see it got worse given the only car the rental company had left was a fine Lincoln Town Car.

At first it worked out okay while we were in Seattle. It gave us a little more room for all the gear we were caring plus the few changes of clothes for non-camping activities. And the extra legroom was pretty comfy.

So after a few days of exploring Seattle off we went to camp. We started the day with a ferry ride across Puget Sound. What a treat! We left Seattle on a beautiful clear morning enjoying coffee and chocolate croissants on the open deck.

Once we hit land we headed out for a long drive north to get on 101 and then south to make it to Dosewallips in time to set up camp.

If you missed it,  I think I said “we weren’t familiar with the area”. So when we were traveling on 101 and hit the green sign that said “Dosewallips” we turned. And we were pretty happy that we were almost there, ready to set up camp and start a fire.

But as we traveled up this road, and it kept getting more treacherous, we kept thinking to ourselves, “dang campsites out here are much more secluded than in the Midwest”. Which isn’t a bad thing, we love to get away and disconnect. Unfortunately we didn’t have our SUV – we had the Lincoln Town Car. And if you haven’t owned or ridden in one of these the ground clearance is low – really, REALLY LOW.

But up we climbed up the road in our LT. Actually “road” may not have been an accurate word. At first it was pavement. Then the pavement became dirt. When the dirt road ran out it became gravel. In the end, it ultimately became a rutted, washed out trail. But it was beautiful, lush and green, and we passed waterfall after waterfall.

Neither of us said anything to the other about our suspicions that this was not the road we should have taken. But really we didn’t have any other choice given the road was really only wide enough for one car. Turning around mid-point just wasn’t an option. We had to get to something, some area to actually be able to turn this monster of a car around.

Finally, after about 5 or 6 miles, which felt like forever – because it took forever, we came upon 10 or so campsites. It was remote but it had pit toilets and running water. As in the kind coming down from a small stream high up in the mountains.

We looked around for someone, ANYONE that could tell us if we had arrived or if we still had further to go. Finally we found a small cabin with a ranger. As we went inside and said, “We have a reservation…” the ranger cut us off and smiled a bit. “Um, I think you might have turned a little too soon. We don’t take reservations. It’s mostly hunters and backpackers that use these sites. I think you were looking for Dosewallips STATE PARK. It’s back on 101.”

It was pretty dark by now and heading back DOWN the road, driving to our “reserved campsite” and setting up camp in the dark was not the most pleasant of thoughts. But he did interject, “If you want you can stay here, we have openings. And when I head out later I’ll let the State Park know to keep your reservation open for the rest of your stay.”

SOLD! We picked out a site right by the river, set up the tent, started a fire and sat under the stars. One wrong turn made a world of difference (and a great memory) on the first night of our NW adventure.