Due to work and other commitments I wasn’t able to commit to complete the whole trip in one go, but we spent the last couple of weekends working the OTG Olympic Traverse.
We started on the west edge of the Olympics and as we are new to the area, wanted to hit some of the key beaches/sites. We made our way up the 101, from just north of Aberdeen. Being the 4th of July weekend, we knew there would be little chance for finding anything in the National Park/Forest established campgrounds, so we started exploring the Washington State forest roads off of the 101 by Kalaloch Beach. Found a surprising amount of open sites, but kept finding better and better sites. While both were pretty over grown found one with a slight view of the ocean and another with a nice open area. Stayed the night. Saw only one van looking for a spot later that night. Amazingly, barely heard a firecracker the entire night.
Next day we got out and hit Ruby Beach and continued our way up the coast to Cape Disappointment. Stopped in to pick up a Makah Tribal Rec Pass and grabbed a bite to eat at Pat’s Place. Solid Fried Bread Taco and enjoyed the amazing weather. Enjoyed the hike to the view point at Cape Disappointment, although a little more crowded than we hoped for. Started making our way back down to the Kalaloch area and after striking out on several forest roads, ended up back on the forest road from the first night. Actually scored the same location as before and enjoyed another quiet relaxing night. The forest road itself is in great shape, but the side roads and sites were very tight and overgrown for our 170 Sprinter.
Two weekends later, we ran the south end of the Traverse, picking it up at the High Steel Bridge. Weather was fantastic and spent a little time there enjoying the water fall and the view. Made our way along the trail. In general it started out in pretty good shape, the usual ruts and occasional pothole, but as we made out way along, the shelf roads got a little tighter and the condition of the road got worse. Steady dose of potholes and deep ruts. Although we have not had rain here in a spell, did come across several wet, muddy crossing points. A tree was down at (47.36839, -123.56311) that required us to reroute a bit.
As we started looking for spot for the night, struggled to find something that was big enough for the Sprinter and wasn’t already taken. Ended up striking out. Found two really neat sites, right on the Wynoochee River, but just couldn’t get the Sprinter to fit comfortably. Called it as dusk set in as we were still relatively close to home. All in all, decent “Sunday drive”, but will need to work on our Plan C and D research
We started on the west edge of the Olympics and as we are new to the area, wanted to hit some of the key beaches/sites. We made our way up the 101, from just north of Aberdeen. Being the 4th of July weekend, we knew there would be little chance for finding anything in the National Park/Forest established campgrounds, so we started exploring the Washington State forest roads off of the 101 by Kalaloch Beach. Found a surprising amount of open sites, but kept finding better and better sites. While both were pretty over grown found one with a slight view of the ocean and another with a nice open area. Stayed the night. Saw only one van looking for a spot later that night. Amazingly, barely heard a firecracker the entire night.
Next day we got out and hit Ruby Beach and continued our way up the coast to Cape Disappointment. Stopped in to pick up a Makah Tribal Rec Pass and grabbed a bite to eat at Pat’s Place. Solid Fried Bread Taco and enjoyed the amazing weather. Enjoyed the hike to the view point at Cape Disappointment, although a little more crowded than we hoped for. Started making our way back down to the Kalaloch area and after striking out on several forest roads, ended up back on the forest road from the first night. Actually scored the same location as before and enjoyed another quiet relaxing night. The forest road itself is in great shape, but the side roads and sites were very tight and overgrown for our 170 Sprinter.
Two weekends later, we ran the south end of the Traverse, picking it up at the High Steel Bridge. Weather was fantastic and spent a little time there enjoying the water fall and the view. Made our way along the trail. In general it started out in pretty good shape, the usual ruts and occasional pothole, but as we made out way along, the shelf roads got a little tighter and the condition of the road got worse. Steady dose of potholes and deep ruts. Although we have not had rain here in a spell, did come across several wet, muddy crossing points. A tree was down at (47.36839, -123.56311) that required us to reroute a bit.
As we started looking for spot for the night, struggled to find something that was big enough for the Sprinter and wasn’t already taken. Ended up striking out. Found two really neat sites, right on the Wynoochee River, but just couldn’t get the Sprinter to fit comfortably. Called it as dusk set in as we were still relatively close to home. All in all, decent “Sunday drive”, but will need to work on our Plan C and D research
