My wife is out of town this weekend and I want to take the kids to explore the Olympic Peninsula. I’ve got a lifted Tundra with a 4 Wheel camper. I’m pretty off road capable, but not looking for anything technical. Just exploration, beauty, and a fun time with the Kids. All advice welcome!
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ADVENTURE TRAVEL ENTHUSIASTS DEDICATED TO OVERLAND EXPLORATION
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I know this is like a month late, but check out around Lake Wynoochee
One thing that may not be readily obvious is that it's a big place- just circumnavigating it going from Bremerton to Seqim to Cape Flattery, down to Ocean City and then back to Bremerton would take close to ten hours just on blacktop. So, it can be wise to pick a section or two if you plan to go slow and investigate a lot of side roads. Hurricane Ridge is a must stop for a lot of folks, and with your rig you could add a side trip over to Obstruction Point with no trouble. I think Cape Flattery is well worth doing. Ruby Beach is awesome but can be crowded. There are other access areas like La Push to the beach along the shore, but they do typically require some drive time out and back. The Hoh rainforest is awesome, although being in a National Park is more hiking focused. Quinalt south of there is a nice drive up to the trailheads. If you get down south of the National Park beach areas towards places like Moclips you can drive right out on the beach and go up and down for miles, which is a cool experience. If you wind up down southeast near Shelton, check out the High Steel Bridge. If you're into Motorsports the Ridge Motorsports park is not too far from there has a cool go kart track (15 and up only). They have an Audi Club event this weekend so it would be free to drive in an look around. Further down that way toward Olympia is the abandoned Satsop Nuclear Power plant in Elma- you can't always get that close, but it's cool if you're into abandoned infrastructure. Also, if you do decide to do any more serious offroading check out Tahuya ORV park up closer to the south end of Hood Canal There are miles and miles of trails there; some tough and some easy, some four track and some single track. There are also lots of gravel roads in the National Park and National Forest- I've been down a bunch of them I can't event remember. Some go interesting places and some just peter out. Be sure to check for closure information for the Park: https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/index.htm . On food, some favorites for me have been Taylor Shelfish in Shelton, the restaurant at the Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal, Mill 109 in Seabrook, the Europub in Poulsbo, The Ranch House BBQ closer to Olympia, and lots of little places in waterfront communities like Port Angeles, Port Townsend, and Ocean Shores. Have a great time!