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Submission
From town: Go 4 mi S on Hwy 20, then 1 mi E on Old Fort Townsend Rd.
Very cool place to visit.
We stayed in our RV which was somewhat uncomfortable just simply because of how close it was to the other sites but they emptied out the next day and stayed empty. There are NO HOOKUPS, despite what it said on the parks site where we booked it, though there is a dump station near the entrance if you need it.
Tent sites are really nice, and the old X Ray Tower is awesome with a humongous BBQ and a ton of tables for large gatherings.
Trails are easy, some ups and downs but nothing outrageous, lots of cool info if you read the plaques on the Historical Trail and Cemetery Trail.
Tons of wildlife. The chipmunks are EVERYWHERE, as well as deer, squirrels, woodpeckers, and fuzzy danger noodles.
What a wonderful place to camp! And picnic, explore the beaches, walk the trails and learn local history! Hot showers are available.
Loved this camp ground! We were in a great location by the bathroom and water. The way the campgrounds are placed felt private with the tall trees. There were people near us but it didn't feel like it. We went on the botany walk that's a little over a mile. It takes you through the woods woods different plants are marked with descriptions. It was very nice. Towards the end of the botany walk there is a viewpoint to the water. Loved the history behind this campground, there were lots of signposts with info on it. Overall this was my favorite campground we stayed at on our trip.
This park was very nice. The bad first:
Due to the burn ban (despite the rain) we couldn't have a fire. Understandable and we knew about this before booking. Bring your propane fire pits!
The bathrooms and showers were also under construction at the upper camp, which was unfortunate as we were tent camping and there was no alerts about this at all. I am disabled and we selected a campsite near the bathrooms specifically for my needs. 3 Porta-potties are available and well maintained. The showers are PAY TO USE in the lower campsite, which you will have to use as the upper showers are not available. $1 per 6 minutes. The sites in the upper camp are very small. We had to shift our table around and the only spot that fit our tent was on an incline. The other spots were about as small.
The good:
The hiking/walking/biking trails here are among the nicest and best maintained I have seen! They were extremely quiet (other than 2 teenage girls blasting a radio on one path) and the leaves were begging to drop and turn. It was visually beautiful, and all the historic buildings are great to explore. It was not crowded at all, we had most areas to ourselves. There are some really beautiful vistas!
The park management keeps the park EXTREMELY clean. And I do mean extremely! I did not see a SINGLE piece of trash anywhere in the park, at any time during our stay of 3 days. I did see park management cleaning up, sweeping, etc multiple times.
Our campsite (space 78) has a little trail directly from the spot to the 2 walking trails in the back. Very convenient access.
We were able to see lots of birds (and even got to hear the bird-song of a rare species of tree bird) and heard hawks, owls, seagulls, and song birds.
We also spotted some seals just off shore and got to experience and watch a family of river otters hunting and eating fish. There are lots of deer in the park at this time with fawns. They will allow you to get within a few feet of them. Please don't pet them!
We were treated to two packs of coyotes singing for about 4-5 minutes each. A very lovely experience.
This was a great park for our stay and I would recommend it to anyone! It's very well priced, clean, and beautiful. Call ahead to check on bathroom/amenities.
Very green park with lots of trails. There are only 2 things left from fort days which is an old cemetery and a torpedo tower that is located in the group campsite. The majority of the park has returned to it's natural roots. There is a barn in the park that can be reserved for any number of things. We only stopped in while waiting for our ferry reservation. It has a campground that we did not look at. The bathroom by the day use area was small but clean. Lots of picnic tables, a few grills, horseshoe area and amphitheater. The state parks website has lots of information for this park as well as reservations for the campground.
