Every fall, we head to Dosewallips State Park to catch the salmon spawning and elk grazing in the meadows from the comfort of a cabin (more on previous years’ trips here). This year, we also added on a stay in Long Beach to replace a Washington coast getaway that we had to cancel earlier this year due to the pandemic.
I loved the completely different environments — forest and wildlife at Dosewallips and then a moody beach (with a whole day of sunshine for our e-bike rental) in Long Beach.
We had cooking facilities in both spots (our camp stove at the cabin and a small but workable kitchen at Boardwalk Cottages), but picked up a take-out lunch in town and a few ice cream treats.
It was so nice to be able to take advantage of the outdoor activities available in both places – hiking, biking, beach time and cranberry picking kept us busy but socially distant from other folks.
For more about our trip, check out my new article in Seattle’s Child.
Suitcases In Seattle 
Sounds fun!
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We had such a nice time – it was only my second time to the WA coast and I really enjoyed it
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[…] Season stayed: Fall 2017, Fall 2019, Fall 2020Site: C6, C8, C9 (Cabins)Drive time from Seattle: 2 hoursWould we stay again?: Yes (as evidenced by the repeat stays)General thoughts: This is our favorite fall camping spot! It gets chilly and weather is unpredictable, so we book a cabin and occasionally get takeout (or dine-in, pre-COVID) at the Halfway House in nearby Brinnon. We always see salmon spawning and the resident herd of elk, plus we saw a large family of eagles on our last trip. There’s a short trail down to the water and a lookout tower, plus a few more hikes in the park and more nearby. We typically take a ferry and drive through Port Gamble on the way there and then drive through Olympia and stop at Billy Q. Nisqually Wildlife Refuge on the way back. Blog post here for more details. You could also continue down the peninsula to Long Beach, similar to our route as described here. […]
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