Camping Suggestions for Northern Washington State?

[Ronanmd1]

Hey guys - My wife and I will be traveling from Calgary to Seattle in early September after Labor Day. Plan is to generally stay north of I90 but we have no scheduled itinerary. Couple days in Seattle then over to Port Angelas to take the ferry to Vancouver Island. Visit with some family, head up to Tofino for a bit then roll back home through southern BC.

I haven't spent much time in northern Wash state. Any suggestions on nice camp spots along the way, including the Olympic Peninsula?

Jason

 

[Bad Habit]

With all the fires, there's probably not much good (let alone safe) camping in WA right now. Lots of smoke, even over here on the West side of the mountains.

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nwcc/interactivemap/index.html?webmap=ed0a7dad32fe4848b20c6f91c74c79ea


Olympic Peninsula may be a better bet. A lot of the areas will take you farther away from Port Angeles though, down along the coast and up into the Rain Forest Valleys (Hoh, Quinalt, Quilcene)

Love the Pacific Rim Hwy across Vancouver Island from Sproat Lake to Tofino/Ucluelet. Always wanted to do some exploring in that area, especially Clayoquat Provincial Park

 

[iowahiker]

Silver Fir campground on the Mt Baker Scenic Byway (hwy 542) we enjoyed (many sites on the river) and the views at the end of the road are great. (nice CG and good location)

Mora in Olympic NP was our favorite near the ocean. Mora is not on the beach but the trails nearby had great rocky shore views with very few people. (small but private sites and good location for shore hiking)

We stayed at Colonial Creek CG on Hwy 20 in N Cascades NP because it had good access to the high country and the pass beyond but Newhalem Creek CG had nicer sites. (good location but busy during the summer and on weekends)

We stayed at Heart O' the Hills on the North side of Olympic because the sites were larger than the very popular and crowded (summer) campgrounds just west of Heart O' the Hills in the park.

 

[mikedunn]

The ideal tour of Northern Washington would be the Cascade loop out of Mt Vernon, east over the Cascade Mt’s to Winthrop, an old western town, south along the Columbia River to Wenatchee where you could circle back west through Stevens Pass to Everett and Seattle, but because of the many fires in Eastern Washington and now coming over the Cascade Mt’s into the Skagit Valley on the west side of the mt., the smoke is pretty thick and would spoil your trip. This could last for the next 2 Months.
I suggest the Northwest coast area of the state. From Seattle head back north taking the Edmonds Ferry. ( If interested in airplane construction, visit the Everett plant for a daily tour on the way to Seattle.) to Port Townsend, a must stop with lots to experience. A nice State Park campground there in the Ft Worden SP. Dungeness Spit County park not far from Port Angeles is a great park along the Puget Sound Inlet. Olympic National Park with another great Campground outside Port Angeles. A trip up to the northern tip of Washington to Neah Bay, back south to Forks and LaPush. Nice National Forest CG back there. Hope this gives you some Ideas.