Today was a travel day. We left the spartan, if not bleak, fairgrounds RV park in Langley and headed north on WA-525 back toward Coupeville. In Coupeville we turned south on WA-20 and zigzagged across some small farms and pastures to the Coupeville-Port Townsend ferry. We pulled up at the pay booth and a dutiful employee popped out to measure the length of our truck and trailer overall.
The last time we traveled on this ferry, the person measuring came up with 50 feet which allowed us to pay the fare for “50 feet or less.” This time, the employee decided his measurement was 50′-2” which obliged us to pay the “60 feet or less” amount plus a fixed charge for “over 7′-6” in height” or $86. After waiting for a ferry departure and the arrival of another one, we were directed on board.
We hopped out of our truck once we were parked and headed up to the 2nd deck where the folks operating the ferries try to squeeze another few bucks out of passengers by serving substandard food. We declined the dining opportunity. Out on the Number 1 end of the ferry we were treated to a gorgeous crossing of Puget Sound complete with sightings of some small dolphins cruising the passage. The trip is only about 6 or 7 miles across the Sound to the terminal in Port Townsend and it is over pretty quickly. Excluding the time required to load on and off the ferry, it costs about $4 a minute.
Once in Port Townsend, we continued on WA-20 south until we got to almost the northernmost end of US-101 and we turned south. We will miss WA-20. We have spent the last month or two being treated to magnificent scenery that borders this road from here on the Olympic Peninsula through the North Cascades into eastern Washington.
101 here is a narrow little road through second-growth timber with periodic views of the gorgeous Hood Canal. Hood Canal is described as the 2nd largest fjord in North America although I am almost completely unable to make a visual distinction between a fjord and any other waterway in the Puget Sound area. There is one glaring difference; the water in the Hood Canal is an amazing turquoise color. Maybe that’s the difference.
We slithered south along the west edge of the Hood Canal through Dosewallips State Park and passing towns with strange names like Hamma Hamma, Ayock and Liliwaup before arriving in a tiny burg called Hoodsport. We turned west on WA-119 and soon pulled into the Dow Creek RV Resort.
This park is quite pretty but mostly vacant, maybe due to management. We were assigned a spot without a sewer connection despite some being available. Our spot was also next to the dumpster and in full sun during the current blazing-hot weather here. We called the desk and asked if we could move across the road into a spot with shade but were informed that that spot was already reserved by someone else. They never arrived or it was not reserved. We had a nice neighbor but about two hours after we arrived, his electrical service took a dump and he had to move to reinstate air conditioning. So far, we are unimpressed with management and maintenance.
See pix. Click here