The day began with uncertainty but ended well.
We knew we wanted to head up toward Olympic National Park,
the northwest corner of Washington, but I had tried to find a site at a state
park in that area and all the sites had been reserved. This being the last
summer weekend before Labor Day, I guess many people were getting in one more
mini-vacation. I was sure, however, that
we could find some place to stay.
I had assumed we would follow I-5 down through Seattle and
Tacoma, then wind our way up Route 101 toward Port Angeles. When we checked the GPS, however, it said it
was only a bit over 100 miles to Port Angeles, with part of the route on a
ferry. Of course---we could cut straight
across from east to west! So we backtracked
north on I-5, went over the bridge onto Whidby Island, and drove to the town of
Coupeville where there is a ferry slip.
I had not planned on this route so I had not made
reservations. When we drove up, the
ferry attendant, upon hearing that we did not have reservations, said “Uh-oh”. She had us park to the side while cars and
trucks loaded onto the 10:15 ferry.
There was not room for us on that one, but we did get on the 11:00
one. While waiting, Ranger got a good
walk along the beach and I had some breakfast.
The ferry crossing to Port Townsend might have provided some
great views, but there was fog almost the whole way. The town of Port Townsend looked worth
exploring, but I was focused on getting to a local park near Port Angeles for
which only half the sites could be reserved, figuring that if we arrived early
afternoon on a Friday, we might get one of the non-reservable ones.
And indeed we did, though when we arrived around 1:30, there
were only two (out of 92) available. So
for the next two nights we will be at Salt Creek Recreation Area, a Clallam
County park. The site is in an open
grassy area with neighbors close by, but the field is terraced, we are at the
top, and we are able to look out over the Strait of Juan de Fuca….which was
covered in fog for most of the afternoon while it was sunny at our campsite.
The park is very nice.
Ranger and I explored a bit and found that there is a walking path all
along the cliffs above the water, with metal steps leading down to the rocks
below in several places. Once down, you
can walk along the rocks and look in the tide pools. There are also several hiking trails to
viewpoints which we will try out tomorrow.
Ranger is still a bit leery of the many foghorns he is
hearing. When the fog lifted some in
late afternoon, we could see far out (though not clear enough to see the city
of Victoria on Vancouver Island) and we watched
a cruise ship head past. The
signs along the cliff indicate that one can see seals and whales from here, so
maybe we will spot them tomorrow.
Our close-by neighbor, about 12 feet to our right, is here
to take over as campground host after this weekend. Dan talked to him for a long time and got
some tips on Dutch oven cooking over a campfire. Bill was trying out a new recipe for Mountain
Dew chicken and he gave us a sample----delicious!
We had a campfire and Dan cooked brats for dinner on
it. We headed in fairly early: once the
sun went down, the temperature dropped.
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