Port Angeles, WA - Day 2
Sunday, October 6
Andi, Tory, Aden and I woke up this morning at Heart O’ The Hills Campground in Olympic National Park. Still a little groggy from a rough night of sleep, Andi stuck his head outside the RV and said, “There’s not a cloud in the sky — let’s go!”
Hurricane Ridge is one of the most visited sights in Olympic National Park, but timing is everything. On a clear day, it yields fantastic views of the Cascade Mountain Range and surrounding area. It just so happened that we were visiting on a day with blue skies as far as the eyes could see! But, it probably wouldn’t stay that way for long. We decided to quickly pack up the RV and head to the top of the mountain to take advantage.
One of the major benefits of staying inside a national park is being close to popular attractions first thing in the morning. It was a beautiful drive up the mountain and we didn’t see another person on the road. As we climbed higher in elevation, some spots on the road were slick with ice and snow. Not ideal to be driving a RV in inclement weather conditions, but fortunately that’s nothing we have lots of experience since we’re from Wisconsin. We arrived at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center around 8:00am and found a spot to park in the parking lot. We fired up the generator and made breakfast in the RV.
It was a chilly 40 degrees F outside, but the sun was shining so we decided to go for a short hike. “I’m not too in the mood for very beautiful views so can I watch your iPad?” Aden asked Andi. Um, no.
We all bundled up and headed out for the hike around Hurricane Rim trail. The path was slippery in some spots, but the views were breathtaking. We could see 360-degrees views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca all the way to Victoria, Canada.
The Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center didn’t open until 9:00am, so we had a few minutes to kill. The four of us headed back to the RV and worked on the kids’ Junior Ranger books.
We’ve earned quite a few national park Junior Ranger badges already and some of the general questions about respecting nature, etc. are fairly similar from location to location. One of the questions in the Olympic National Park booklet asked what you should do if you see a deer on a trail. As a true outdoorsman-in-training, Aden’s responded flatly, “Well, if it’s deer season you shoot it. Otherwise, you leave it alone.” Can you tell Andi and the kids have been talking and planning for the Wisconsin deer opener?
With completed Junior Ranger booklets in hand, the four of us walked into the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center at 9:00am so the kids could collect their badges. The building was open, but unfortunately it was unstaffed during the off-season. Bummer! That meant we’d have to go back to the visitor center in Port Angeles to earn their badges.
Inside the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center, we walked around to look at various displays and sat through a 20-minute video presentation titled "Life on the Edge.” Olympic National Park is ONP is unique in that it’s basically an island that formed out of the ocean. It has 16 different endemic animals and 8 different endemic plants only found there. This answered our family’s question about why there are so many bears and sheep in Montana and other areas in Washington, but none on the Olympic Peninsula. It’s also one of the only places you can find beaches, mountains, tide pools, and forests all in one small geographical area.
We bought a few postcards and a sticker for our RV travel book, and then returned to the RV to head back down the mountain. On our walk through the parking lot we saw two people making coffee in a Chemix on the back trunk of their vehicle. It made Andi laugh. He said, “That sums up Washington perfectly. In Montana, you’d see people drinking whiskey. In Washington, it’s fancy coffee.”
Back to the Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles so the kids could earn their Junior Ranger badges. The ranger there was very friendly with the kids and took time to go through their entire booklets, asking them questions about their travels and what they’ve learned in ONP.
From there, we drove the RV into downtown Port Angeles. We parked the RV in an empty parking lot and decided to bike around town to explore the area. Andi and I commented once again how we’d expected Port Angeles — at the base of Olympic National Park — to be a charming village by the ocean when in fact Port Townsend (the ferry port town) fit the picture in our minds more accurately. Port Angeles is double the size as Port Townsend (19,000 people vs. 9,000 respectively).
There was plenty to do in Port Angeles for the day. First, we stopped by Swain’s General Store to browse around the store’s wide selection of clothing and outdoor accessories. This type of store is Andi’s favorite, so the kids and I followed him around like puppies for 30 minutes or so while he browsed every aisle.
A few blocks away from the general store, we hopped on the Olympic Discovery Trail which meanders along the waterfront for 70+ miles all the way from Port Angeles to Port Townsend. We had a hard time finding it at first, but a few friendly neighbors talking in front of a house helped point us in the right direction. We rode along the path, through downtown and the city pier all the way to the Westport Yachts shipyards & back again. We could have traveled farther, but Tory and I were freezing. It’s always about 10 degrees colder (and more windy!) on our electric bikes.
Back at our RV in the parking lot near the general store, we made lunch and then headed toward Salt Creek Campground in Port Angeles where we planned to camp for the night. Several people we’ve met along the way recommended this campground, so we were anxious to experience it for ourselves.
Salt Creek Recreation Area is about 30 minutes from downtown Port Angeles. When we arrived, we were pleased to find beautiful open views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as well as a playground, rocky tide pools, and hiking trails to explore the park.
Half of the campsites are reservable February - October, so naturally most of the waterfront sites were spoken for. Fortunately, we were only planning to stay for one night which allowed us to find a waterfront campsite with one-night of open availability between bookings. Right away, the campground hosts came over to our spot to introduce themselves and ask about our rig. They travel in a similar Class C RV setup.
Tory and Aden were anxious to run over to the playground. Since it was Sunday afternoon, there were actually some kids there. The sunshine on our faces and views of the ocean and green grass before us felt amazing.
After a while, we pried the kids away from the playground so we could go check out the tide pools. It was high tide so there wasn’t much room to wander, but nevertheless we spent an hour or two hunting mussels, urchins, and sea cucumbers.
Tide pools are my favorite! As we walked along the beach, we found sea anemones, sea cucumbers, and barnacles hiding in shallow pools of water between the rocks. Whenever we’d lightly touch the top an anemone, it would close up tightly and then relax again. It was really cool.
We walked back to our campsite, and Andi built a campfire. Even though we’re camping every night, we don’t always have a fire (sometimes we get in late, we don’t have any wood or it’s outrageously expensive to buy, and sometimes the weather doesn’t allow for it), but Salt Creek seemed like the perfect place to enjoy one with gorgeous views of the water.
We made a smorgasbord dinner of re-heated meatballs, grilled cauliflower steaks and microwaved broccoli cheese soup for dinner. Lesson learned: The soup wasn’t the greatest thing to microwave because the disposable bowls kept melting! Kind of a mess.
The kids ate s’mores for dessert (because, duh, that’s what you do when you’re siting by the fire!) and then hyped up on sugar, Aden refused to say anything except “meow, meow” for the rest of the night. Real life travel with kids - ha!
Despite the annoying kitty talk, we had a great day on the Olympic Peninsula. Tomorrow, we’re heading toward Forks, Washington — land of werwolves and vampires.
