Elwha campground to Fairholme Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington
Left Elwha Campground this morning and drove West on highway 101. Passed Lake Sutherland, a beautiful, 600′ deep lake with some private homes overlooking the lake and a commercial campground set on some lovely hills. It had a number of large RVs already enjoying the peace and beauty there. The campground was adjacent to a Texaco Gas station that sells gas, diesel and propane. We refilled the Lazy Daze motor home’s propane tank. ($2.89/gal.) Reg gas was about $4.15/gal and diesel was going for $4.47/gal. Glad we don’t need gasoline yet.
Further along 101 was the very large Lake Crescent. Both these lakes were so clear you could see much of the bottom easily and the blue of the water must have been caused by so many minerals being washed down from the mountain. It looked like there had to be some calcium carbonate in the water to make the water such a light, turquoise blue. The surfaces of both lakes were like glass reflecting the surrounding mountains and the few white clouds floating by. Just breathtaking.
Fairholme Campground, next to Lake Crescent has a $5 dump site that only cost $2.50 for Senior NP pass holders. Use of the dump site is not included in the camping fee which we think is fairly unusual. I think this is one of the first times we’ve had to pay to use a dump site. They also have fresh water at the dump site so emptied gray and black tanks and refilled our water tank. We’re very careful with the amount of water we use, taking very fast Navy type showers, etc.
Our campsite at the Fairholme Campground, which is part of the Olympic National Park, is near the water of Lake Crescent and our neighbors are sword ferns and trees covered in moss. Most of the loops of the campground are still closed but the first loop is open. I think the campground host arrives sometime in late May. Not a bad place to be a campground host. There’re two other campers here; a truck camper and a tenter but they are far from us so this feels quite private. The weather is beautiful here in the day time. This morning we woke to a temp of 49 degrees F but it warmed to 69 degrees this afternoon so it was very comfortable. Took a short hike this afternoon staying fairly close to the water. There was a cacophony of birds calling from one tree or bush to another throughout the woods. Wish we knew one bird call from another. This sounds like a birders paradise.
Here, as at the other places we have stayed on the Olympic Peninsula, our Mi Fi (Millenicom with 20 Gigs/month) works perfectly which is interesting since we feel like we are in the middle of the woods. In Port Townsend, when we boondocked at the visitor center, we used the free visitor center wi fi and had an excellent signal inside the motor home.
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