Beach, which gets its name from the garnet coloured stones on the shores of the beach. T e beach was a wide expanse of sand that allowed our dogs a chance to run and be dogs. We had to look really hard at the sand to determine that it was a light ruby colour though! We spent one day just enjoying the
area. Although it poured here for the next two days, it gave us a chance to relax, to read and to walk with our dogs along the beach before we headed back towards Port Angles area.
September 29 Retracing our route, we stopped Sept. 26-28: Ruby Beach.
in the town of Forks to do a little geocaching. Forks is a very interesting place. I was amused to
see how much the town has promoted the fi lm Twilight, as the movie was fi lmed here. T ere are business signs everywhere promoting the vampire fi lm! But there is more to this place than Twilight, as we soon discovered. Forks has an annual rainfall of ten to twelve feet a year… yes, feet. We were lucky to be visiting this area on a sunny, warm autumn day! Aſt er exploring Forks, we took Highway 101 to fi nd what turned out to be our most favourite
camping spot of this whole trip. T e route we took was a bit narrow in spots as we circled Crescent Lake. At times, it seemed the road narrowed to only one lane of traffi c. So I would not recommend this route for larger vehicles. We fi nally arrived at Salt Water Recreation Area, and we loved this spot so much we stayed here for fi ve nights. T e spot off ered electricity and water for $24 a night. Aſt er boondocking for over two
weeks, we decided to splurge and take advantage of the modern conveniences of water and electricity!! We had a fantastic spot overlooking Crescent Bay and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. T e fi rst thing we did once we set up camp was get our chairs out so that we could drink in the scenery. If one is lucky enough, one can catch glimpses of the grey whales nearby in Crescent Bay. Apparently, at this time of year, you can also witness turkey vultures during their migration. We took our dogs for a walk
Sept. 29: Salt Water Recreation Area - we stayed fi ve nights.
around the park and discovered that the site was what was called Camp Hayden. T ere is evidence of bunkers that were used during the Second World War. T ere are trails leading directly to the beach. Aſt er a refreshing windswept walk with our dogs we settled in for the night. As we feasted on barbequed chicken with wild rice, we gazed out at the ocean from our dining room window. I felt like I was in a fi ve star hotel and dining room!
September 30–October 2 Our fi rst full day in the area was spent exploring nearby areas. We stopped at the nearby
Elwha River. T e Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams are the largest dams in U.S. history to be dismantled in hopes of returning over 70 miles of river to salmon spawning grounds. It is a very ambitious project. We then drove up to Hurricane Ridge. T ere is a fantastic paved roadway all the way up to the national park. Once again, our dogs were not permitted on the trails at the park. We took a short walk at the top, and I was impressed with the wide sloping paved walkway that leads to the top of the ridge. It was clearly made to allow people using wheelchairs a chance to view the panoramic, majestic views off ered at the top.
20 RVT 142 • JULY/AUGUST 2011
Hurricane Ridge is breathtaking with its
snow-capped mountains in the distance. T e view off ers a clear view to Vancouver Island and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I could never get tired of looking at this sight. We also had time to visit Harbinger Winery aſt er leaving the national park. T e Olympic Peninsula has many wineries in the vicinity. T ere was a charge for wine tasting, but we enjoyed the atmosphere here more than anything. Locals seem to stop here to have a sample of wine and chat with the owners. We were amused that many of them had never heard of our wineries in the Okanagan valley. We spent another day just exploring
our camp area. T ere are so many trails to walk our dogs on. Although they are not wheelchair accessible, the trails are easy to walk on. T ere are trails leading directly down to the beach so you can explore the tidal pools. We walked along the beach to reach Tongue Point and discovered that many locals use this area to walk their four legged friends. We also drove all the way back into
Sequim for the day, as we were so impressed with this small town. We were lucky, as it was a Saturday. Each Saturday, the town has a Farmers’ Market. You got a wonderful fl avour of the area with its local produce, artists and entertainment. It was wonderful to stroll through the stalls and talk to so many friendly Sequimers. Sequim impressed us so much; we vowed to return to this area during their Lavender Festival, when the hills are covered in purples and blues.
October 4 Reluctantly we agreed that we had to
start heading homeward, so the next day we retraced our route to Port Townsend to board the ferry. We did not have a wait for the ferry on our return trip. Aſt er leaving the ferry, we eventually merged on to familiar Highway 20 and headed to Fort Ebey State Park for one night. T is is a huge park with so many trails! T e campground also had many sites that off er both non-hookups at $21 and water, electricity hookups for $28. Aſt er spending several nights on the beach
with clear night-time views, we found this park dark and dreary, especially at this time of year. I imagine this would be an ideal place in the summer as there were countless trails to explore in the park. T is is an ideal spot for those who are interested in historic forts. I was truly amazed at the size of this garrison, which at one time included a barber-shop, a library and a bowling alley. Perhaps we would return here in the warm, summer days, but for now, we were glad to move out of the wet climate and into open spaces the next day.
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