National forest camping

[Juliem]

Originally Posted by CanuckRV

We are planning a trip to the west coast end of July as it's the only time we can get off. All of the National Forest parks in Washington around Olympia National Park are all first come first served. How do you know if there are sites? How busy are these parks will there be sites? Unfortunately, it is also a weekend that we will be in the area.
Reservable sites in the national park are only reservable 2 weeks in advance.
This is really hard to plan a trip

I traveled with a newborn and new mom from Illinois to Seattle. We didn’t camp, as she was post c-section, but we did frequently nap for up to 6-7 hours in the SUV in church parking lots. I’d usually ask the local police if they knew of a place and they were great about helping. They’d call the church office and set it up, sometimes let us stay in the police parking lots. Of course, it helped to have a brand new kidlet to gain some sympathy.
Since then, I’ve camped with the class B in church lots and sometimes police/fire lots. I also use the boondocking websites for info.
Happy trails!

[graywolfkayak]

We live in Sequim, Washington on the north edge of Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest (look it up on a map - you'll see where we are). I've been hiking, climbing, camping and fly fishing the park since 1969, and I know it pretty well. Things have changed dramatically over the past 20 years, and the days of driving up to a campground, in particular the ONP campgrounds and the Washington State Park campgrounds, and getting a spot on a whim are pretty much over. The same applies to the backcountry. It doesn't hurt to check because there can be no-shows.

Olympic National Forest does allow dispersed camping, and there are quite a few opportunities for that. An example is FS road #29 in the Sol Duc River Valley - look that one up to give you an idea. Another is the Hoh River Valley Road outside of ONP. We've seen lots of folks camping at virtually every wide spot or turnout.

If you need advice regarding specific spots you want to see, feel free to reach out to me for advice. One word of advice regarding the coastal section of ONP is that it is usually foggy during the summer. You can be socked in at your campsite at Kalaloch campground, while it's blue skies and sun just a couple of miles inland: https://www.beachconnection.net/news...land101222.php.

[Macodiva]

Have you thought about checking out Harvest hosts for spots