Heart O’ the Hills–Olympic National Park

Casino Parking Lot Camping worked out great!  By 7:30 this morning we were on the road again…both amazed that the parking lot full of cars was empty except for a small handful of cars, and the dozen or so RVs parked in the back near us.  The drive up to Port Angeles was very pretty, and above you can see one of our first opportunities to get a picture of the Puget Sound, which is named after Peter Puget, a Huguenot lieutenant accompanying Captain George Vancouver's Expedition (Vancouver was an officer of the British Royal Navy).

With the sun raising up over the east, many of our glimpses were through trees and bushes, with the sun glaring on us.

Sometimes Marcia was able to get a more northern view (first pictures) or southern view (above), and what a view it was!

But much of the drive was just a pretty, tree lined two lane highway, which goes through a number of small communities, and provides that occasional glimpse of the Puget Sound.

We arrived at Heart O’ the Hills Campground in the Olympic National Park around 10:30.  Entrance fee was free with the senior pass, and camping fees were $10 per night with the pass, and we paid for three nights.  There are five different loops in the campground, and a total of 105 camping spots.  It is difficult to find a spot large enough to accommodate our 28’ motorhome and little HHR.  Tried a spot that fit the motorhome but the car could not fit without blocking the road.  We found this spot, loop A campsite #10 which just does fit us. 

We are along the road, but there is little traffic and no dust kicks up.  Those who have passed by today so far have been looking for a spot for themselves, although there have be a few who just want to look around.  For the most part there are small trailers and tent-trailers.

For the most part, this is the lush green forest that we gaze out upon….what a lovely, and cool (80 degrees at 3 pm) place to be.  Of course, with all these trees, there is no room for very much solar power…so we will have to run our generator just a little more, but we hope it is not too much…perhaps 90 minutes per day.

At 5 pm I drove through all five loops.  Loop A, where we are, has two open spots, and there are about twenty open spots altogether in the other loops.  Only one or two “might” have met our needs.  I read that this campground was laid out for tent camping, and RVs was an afterthought.  Perhaps that is why so many sites are small, narrow and at a slant.  If you have a Class A, you are pretty much out of luck…only saw one modern class A in the park, and two smallers, older, Class A motorhomes.  I am just glad we got here as early as we did…or we would have been going to plan “B”, which would have cost more money, and not had nearly the appeal this place has.