If you'd ever like to experience more than the usual vacation or trip, just join us on our next adventure!
The plan all along was to explore the Olympic Peninsula. We discussed various levels of accommodations from vacation homes, to hotels, cabins, RVs and camping. There really weren't any RVs available to rent and let's be honest, hotels and all that are really expensive right now. We've planned a few things for summer and fall, and spring break was meant to be our more local, less expensive trip. So... camping it was! I was nervous since we hadn't full on tent camped in awhile, so we borrowed a friends trailer called Timmy. Timmy is outfitted with a rooftop tent, and the bed of a truck that has been modded to house a two burner propane stove, water, and lots of storage for all the things you need for camping. Seemed like a good compromise.
We got all prepped and ready to go (which is a task in and of itself, am i right?).
Tuesday we headed for Lake Quinalt. The plan was to find some dispersed camping in the area and tour the scenic loop.
We stopped at Satsop on the way which was almost a fully functional nuclear power plant until they ran out of money.
When we got to Lake Quinalt we soon learned that there was nowhere nearby to do dispersed camping, and upon the suggestion of the local ranger we headed to Kalaloch Campground and looked for a spot there. We got a lot of our stuff set up in one spot only to realize it was already reserved (not the best reservation system), so we found another site and got all set up for the evening.
Interestingly enough, we were already planning on making a stop at the Kalaloch Campground because this is where you can park and head down to the beach to see what they call the Tree of Life. So instead of a quick pit stop, we spent the evening down on the beach right at sunset. It was really beautiful and one of the sandier beaches I've seen on the coast.
After some time on the beach we needed to head up to the campsite to cook before dark. Our first night was one of our more traditional camping meals- pizza subs. You buy a few loaves of french bread, cut them longwise and line the inside with cream cheese, pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese. Wrap in foil and then warm up at dinner time. We used a camp oven that fit over the stove and they warmed up nicely. We setup a fire in our solo stove to keep warm and also for s'mores.
It was quite cold that first night- so much that I really had a hard time sleeping at all. I'm getting too old for this you guys.
Next morning Dan braved the cold and got some water on to boil for oatmeal and coffee, and of course poptarts and yogurt for the win!
This is when the real adventure begins. See, our camp neighbor approached and asked for help. Supposedly he had set up camp there and then went out to explore the forest roads in his Hyundai Accent. It broke down and he had to walk back to the campground. He thought his phone and wallet were back at camp but it turns out they're in his car, which now he can't find. Dan kindly takes him back out to his car-- only after two hours of searching they can't find it at all. He uses Dan's phone to reach out to family and he has a sister who lives in Tacoma but she's out of town. Her husband says he could maybe come help Saturday or Sunday, and this was on Wednesday, and it's cold and he only has some food, and no phone and wallet. Dan brings him back to camp and isn't sure what to do to help him next, so we go on with our plans.
Meanwhile the boys and I had just hung out at the beach and our campground, and it was cold... we were very glad when he came back and we could warm up in the car.
Since we didn't do the scenic drive of Lake Quinalt the day before, we went back to do that. This is a 31 mile loop that has lots to see and explore along the way.
By the end of our drive it was beginning to rain. An omen of the rest of our camping time. We stopped at Ruby beach before returning to our campsite for the night. Ruby Beach is really not far from our beach at Kalaloch, but it's vastly different. All rock, very little sand, lots more driftwood, and seastacks!
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| See that big bluff with trees on it? There was a section of the beach that connected to it and I decided I wanted to go all the way out to it. We had to cross some water so Cade stayed behind with the dog. |
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| Made it to the bluff! |
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| A fallen cedar tree |
Once back at the campsite we quickly cooked up some fajitas (i had already cut and marinated the meat and veggies so it was just a simple sizzle and assembly job). We ate inside the annex of the rooftop tent to stay dry and discussed the future of our trip. We knew we'd be camping there that night, but our plan of 3 nights was seeming cold and wet. We decided as a family to alter the trip by one day, but still drive out to Cape Flattery and then head home. We also decided to offer Brandon, the guy from the other campsite, a ride home to Tacoma- he'd just have to tag along on our sight seeing a bit.
Here's us playing Euchre in the boys' tent to pass time and stay warm!
That night was very windy and rainy, but a touch warmer than the night before.
The next morning Brandon decided he would join us, so we got Timmy all packed up, fit Brandon's stuff in somehow, and all squished into the Xterra. Brandon sat shotgun and me and the boys and the dog got cozy in the back.
We passed through Forks on our way to WA. I know there are things to do and see here, Twilight related and not. We'll have to do that on another trip!
Cape Flattery was kind of the main part of our trip- it's the NW most point of the US that you can visit! How many people can say they've done that? And I'd heard it was beautiful. It is quite a drive though on slow, curvy roads. We left the campground around 11 and it took a few hours to make it to the trail head.
This was a very wet and rainy day anyways, and the trail is part of a rainforest. I wasn't sure whether to be hot, cold, wet, wetter, humid, etc. ! A lot of the trail was wet and muddy, but a good chunk was raised off the ground with these boardwalks. There were little pullouts along the way for some scenic views and then at the end you're just kind of on a viewpoint over a cliff. I thought it might end on a beach since we did a lot of declining in elevation, but that's ok! It was quite unique scenery and well worth the visit.
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| We spotted a sea otter! No whales, unfortunately |
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| A very wet puppy |
The walk back to the car was at a steady incline, and I struggled a little bit, but all in all my stamina has slowly been improving the further I get away from 2020.
At this point it was just time to start heading back towards Tacoma to take Brandon home. The roads in this area are mostly two lane roads that are quite bumpy and curvy, and with Timmy we definitely weren't the quick ones on the road.
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| The town of Sekiu and its....mascot? |
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| This made me laugh. This is Cade and how he looked most of the ride home. You can hardly tell there's a teenager in there, and sometimes he comes out for snacks. |
At some point between Neah Bay and Port Angeles we came around a bend and to our shock, there was a car in the middle of the two lanes upside down. It looked as though it had very recently crashed. Dan and Brandon immediately got out of the car and went to see if there was anything they could do. Turns out it was a 17 year old gir who had lost control and flipped her car. She was all alone on the side of the road and understandably shaky and a bit confused. We weren't the first ones on the scene, but once Dan started helping the other family that had stopped to help went on their way. She had no visible injuries and was speaking coherently so we brought her into our car out of the rain until the authorities came. I think she was incredibly lucky it wasn't worse. The EMT's put her in a collar and half backboard in order to load her into the ambulance, but I'm guessing she only had a concussion.
It was an interesting experience to say the least! It also left us out in the rain for an additional hour. We were all pretty wet and cold after Cape Flatter and the accident so drove into Port Angeles and stopped for a meal and a warm up.
After that there were no more adventures delaying us from dropping Brandon off. I hope he is able to find his car and get it working, and we're not sure if we took the right action to help him in the best way, but it's what we could offer at the time. I know how wet and cold I'd been at the campground and he would've been like that for 4-5 more days until he got proper help.
We got ourselves home around 10:30 and immediately set a few things up in our garage to dry. Needless to say we were glad to be in our warm beds that night. This girl is done with tent camping. I love going to explore and see all these amazing things, but I need a few comforts to let the joy override the discomforts I guess!
Want to join us on our next trip? You never know what you might get!
