Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA.  March 23-25, 2021

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

9412 miles at start.

Drove to Port Townsend to camp at Fort Worden- 2 nights reservations site 48, full hookup $88 includes web reservation fee and 2 nights.  Took the 10:15am Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry.  Left home at 9:00am, arrived 9:20am.  Ferry toll $39.05 including -1.80 senior discount (65+) for Janet.

Drove through Port Townsend and toured Point Hudson RV Park and Marina.  Lunch takeout from Shanghai.  Lunch specials twice cooked pork and Shanghai chicken- ate in RV at Point Hudson.  Watched noon news on Channel 7 after channel scan at Point Hudson. 

Drove to Port Townsend Safeway and bought local Sunrise Coffee, roasted in Port Townsend.  Also bought canned green beans and ice cream.  

Drove from Port Hudson to Jefferson County Oak Bay campgrounds in Port Ludlow.  Both are closed for the season, opening April 1, and have very small minimally improved campsites (picnic table and fire ring) with no privacy.  

Drove to Fort Worden State Park, registered in the office and then set up camp in site #48.  This is a pull through full hookup site with privacy on the passenger side which backs to woods at the base of the bluff, but there is a bluff trail very close by.  The public restrooms are well appointed and maintained.  There is a single ADA shower stall, $1.00 for 3 minutes.  

Used levelers on driver side 2” front and back. Connected water and power.  Got bikes down and assembled. Rode the bikes around the campground and to the light house, then to bike rack at Knapp Circle trail where there is beach access.  

Walked 4.6 miles round trip along North Beach from the Knapp Circle Trail beach access.  Found only 8 small agates, along with some small beach glass pieces. 

Spaghetti with canned Hunts sauce, Costco frozen meatballs and frozen green beans for dinner with some carrot sticks, celery sticks, Boursin’s cheese and Ritz crackers for dinner.  Used both propane burner for sauce and induction for noodles.  

Hot showers after dinner.  Grey tank 1/3 after showers.  Propane 3/4, fresh water 2/3.  Black empty.  

In bed by 9pm.  Calm outside 49˚F.  

  

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

9451 miles, Fort Worden State Park Campsite 48.

Oat meal with raisins and milk for breakfast.  Walked the bikes up the Beach Campground Trail- moderately steep with several hundred feet of elevation gain to top of bluff.  Rode the bikes around the Artillery Hill Main Gun Line road, Battery Way and Mule Barn road to Chinese Gardens interpretive trail.  The last was a narrow dirt trail with tree roots, difficult to bike, along the Chinese Gardens Lagoon.  Had light rain on and off while bicycling.  Returned through main campus to the campground via the Parade Ground road.  Had Tonkotsu instant ramen bowls for lunch with Ritz crackers and Boursin cheese.  Naps. Moderate winds caused the slide cover to flap a bit in the wind and rain. Need waterproof seat covers for bikes (shower caps?)

Late afternoon, rode the bikes to the North Beach County Park along the roads around the park, encountering moderate local traffic.  Rode past the Fort Worden Cemetery and Port Townsend water treatment plant.  Locked up the bikes at the County Park and walked west along North Beach for 2.25 mile round trip.  Janet found 3 agates, Ben picked up just beach glass.  Rode bikes back via the North Beach Trail through Fort Worden State Park past the Chinese Gardens trail, and back to the campground.  Bicycled about 5 miles in the afternoon.  

Chili Cheese dogs with nachos, carrot and celery sticks for dinner.  Watched an episode of Giny and Georgia on Netflix and then showers and bed by 10pm.  Rain started during the night, but with less wind.  

Thursday, March 25, 2021

9451 miles, Fort Worden State Park Campsite 48

Egg and Cheese sandwiches made with Costco Sandwich buns toasted with Boursin’s spread in the convection oven, and egg with shredded cheddar omelet made on the induction cooktop in the skillet. Discovered it is not possible to run the Microwave and Induction cooktop simultaneously- the Induction cooktop shuts itself off and takes several minutes before it will reset and come back to standby status.   

Use the campground toilets after breakfast and then broke camp by raising the stabilizing jacks, disconnecting fresh water after topping off the tank, drained and flushed the black tank, then drained the grey tank, and then power flushed the hose.  Stowed the hose and adapter capped in the new bumper storage, and used the green bucket with 4oz holding tank treatment and 1.5gal water to add to the black tank via the toilet.  Then rinsed the green bucket and used that to store the coiled green hose in the wet bay, along with the potable water hose in its caddy.  Drove the RV off the leveling blocks and ran the slide in.  Stowed the leveling blocks In the Wardrobe external compartment.  Bikes were secured to the rack the evening before.  It was raining so we decided against doing any more bicycling.  

Drove to North Beach County Park, but it was high tide and raining, so we opted to catch an earlier ferry.  We were able to catch the 11:15am ferry on standby and were the last vehicle loaded.  We decided to check out Maxwelton Beach via Dave Mackie Park.  Stopped and had lunch special takeout in our RV at China City Freeland.  Better than Shanghai, but not as good as China Harbor or Chiang’s.  

Dave Mackie Park was 1/4 mile past the location tagged on Apple Maps, which was a private stretch of beach with a beach volley ball court.  Dave Mackie Park had two parking lots, a closed bathroom and children’s play area.  The beach is closed on either end by private tidelands and NO TRESPASSING signs, so there is less than .25 miles of beach that can be walked, and there was no gravel for agate hunting.  Double Bluff was visible in the distance, so we drove there.  The county has installed a small parking lot with a narrow turn around.  We were lucky to be able to park and get out.  We walked a mile down the beach and came back- it was high tide and Janet managed to find one yellow agate.  Lot’s of dog walkers and dogs.  

We drove to Ebey’s Landing and parked along the beach for a short nap and then walked about 1.5 miles south and back as the tide was going out and the sun was setting.  We found a couple of small agates, and then drove home.  We unloaded perishables and laundry- pulled sheets off the bed, pillow cases and towels.  Used the Dyson to vacuum before unloading that as well.