6/1 Fort Flagler Historic State Park, Olympic Peninsula

I am not about as far north in the United States as you can get--in the far northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. 

Remind me not to schedule campgrounds so that I am traveling on Friday afternoon!  It was not a fun drive for any of us--the people in front of me or the line of cars behind me.  I usually travel a couple of miles-per-hour lower than the speed limit, which means I usually collect vehicles behind me.  I do pull over as much as I can, but there is often not a place to do that.  Also, in heavy traffic like this, it would not do much good anyway.  The next three photos shows the traffic I had to drive through to get here.

Finally!  Off the beaten track and to my campground.

There are two main campgrounds here--the upper campground in the woods which does not have hookups and can not handle larger RVs and this lower campground right on the water, which has mostly full hookup campsites.  Full hookup means electric, water, and sewer.  Nice, large sites, also. 

Roads are paved but campsites are mostly gravel.  That is fine because it is sandy here, not dusty. 

What is interesting about being camped here is that this place is located at the beginning of Puget Sound, so you have a lot of marine traffic to watch as it goes by on the way to Seattle.  Here is an overview map of the area.  Canada is to the north, but out of cell range, luckily, and Seattle is to the south.

Across the bay is Fort Worden State Park where I stayed last summer and also a couple of years ago.  Just southeast of Fort Worden in Port Townsend where a large ferry goes to Seattle and other places in the Sound, including whale watching.   

 I like that this part of the state park is open and has fantastic views.  

You can just make out the snow-topped Olympic Mountains in the distance.  I have been there several times, so won't be headed that way on this trip. 

There is clamming around here at certain times of year, but I found this sign interesting.  

In many areas of the northwest, you can also rent or use your own crab pots, so this sign is telling you what is in season and what you can keep.

However, this sign tells you that you can't take any shellfish!  Confusing. 

Beach is mostly gravel, but the water is so cold, I don't think most people would swim even on a hot day, which is rare up here anyway. 

A few more photos of the campground.  

 
This the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line's Ovation of the Seas, headed for an Alaskan glacier tour. 

This is a view looking south along the area on the west side (other side from Seattle) of the island. 

This cruise ship was easier to identify from the list in Seattle this day.  It is the Ruby Princess and headed on an Alaskan cruise. There were two other big ships leaving this day, but I missed seeing them.  

I am glad I am staying here an entire week.  I am definitely planning to come back to this area again and spend time at Fort Worden and here.  I will also seriously consider a day trip to Seattle on the ferry then.