Washington State/Oregon – The drive within Washington State on the 101 was very nice. You drive all around Olympic National Park and are able to go into its many entrances along the way. Additionally, you go into the town of Port Angeles which you can catch a ferry ride or like me keep driving south. The 101 does have an east and west which is when it is around Olympic. This road I took starting at the Sul Doc Campground exit and I was on it the entire way to the Beach Site State Park in Oregon. The border with Oregon is a big and long bridge with the 1/2 point of the bridge being the border between the two states. The road takes you along the coast of Oregon and you see the ocean many times during the trip through beach towns. The mileage is not great but you are going through all these little beach towns with 25 mph and red lights causing the trip to take a few extra minutes. The road is two lanes for the most part both in Washington and Oregon but there are places that have slow lanes and even in towns there are 4 lanes. If you are not in a hurry then this is the drive for you as it has multiple viewing points of the ocean and also stops in towns. I did enjoy the drive down from Washington starting yesterday and except for the early AM wakeup it was great.
Arcadia Beach Access – Well I have to say that my stop last evening due to being tired and it was dark happened to be Arcadia Beach access. I didn’t notice the signs saying no overnight parking but with 4 other cars in the lot I was not really looking for the sign either. Today at 0645, I had a knock on the door and knew that it was someone telling me to move on as no overnight parking. I was correct in Park Ranger Brian, he was nice to me and told me no parking at the beach access points from 2200 to 0600 +1 (those who don’t know airline speak it is 10pm to 6am the next morning). I decided to get up and explore the beach. I was thankful that I did as it was very cool to see the fog, a couple of eagles and the rocks in the ocean.
Seal Rock – There is a town called Seal Rock but I am writing about a pull out of the 101 in the town. There are many rocks in the ocean at these two turn outs. The wildlife is abundant as well with seagulls, and pelicans. When heading south on the 101 the turn out is on the right and they come quick and parking is tight, aka small area, so be ready to pull over off the road. The second one you come to does have more space than the first but I have to say the first one has better views. The first has rocks in the ocean around in a 180 degree loop when the second has a view of the side of the first and a few other rocks. It is worth a few minutes to stop and gaize at what Mother Nature has done. The first pull out had written in a Marks a lot stairs over by the sign for Seal Rock, the town’s welcome sign, but I did not go down to the water or try the stairs.
Richardson Grove State Park – With the cancellation of Lassen Volcanic due to the fires I have a few extra days to get to Colorado and Black Canyon. Well as luck would have it I was driving about 5pm and came across Richardson Grove and they had an opening for camping, plenty of openings! The park has two separate campgrounds one bring Huckleberry and the other Madrone. The campgrounds are are right of of Highway 101 and are in a coastal redwood forest. Huckleberry has 36 spots and Medrone has 39 spots. Both of the campgrounds have running water and showers! The showers require a token and each token is $0.50 and that will give you 2.5 minutes of water. I have selected to have 3 tokens for my shower and shave in the AM. The park is near the South Fork Eel River and a swimming hole is near the park on the river, but due to the lack of rain the swimming hole is not that big this year. There are a few trails around the campground for a bit of hiking if you wish to do so. The visitor center is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I was out of luck coming into the park on a Monday. If you are on the 101 and need a place to sleep this is a great little park. Not sure I would spend days at the park without a group but it is a nice place to camp.
