Hello,
My boyfriend and I are taking a road trip from SF to Seattle, Aug 5-16. We will be spending 4 nights in Seattle and want to camp for 2 days somewhere before spending 2 nights at Lake Quinault lodge.

We would love some suggestions on a campground are that is on the way to Lake Quinault or not too far out of the way, that offers something different than Lake Quinault does. We are pretty active and love to hike and kayak, but also fine relaxing with a book. We do have a car so if we went to an island would have to bring it with us on the ferry.

The rest of our trip will be spent driving home through central OR's wine country.

Thanks!
A

I would travel to the Olympic Peninsula via the Bainbridge Island ferry from downtown Seattle, then head north up to the Port Angeles/Lake Crescent/Hurricane Ridge area. If you stayed at Lake Crescent or at one of the campgrounds near Hurricane Ridge (e.g. Heart of the Hills) you could spend one day up at the ridge, and another maybe beachcoming on the Dungeness Spit, or hanging out at Sol Duc hot springs, etc. From Lake Crescent/PA it's around a 3- hour drive to Lake Quinault.

You could also camp at one of the beaches on the Olympic NP coastal strip, a bit north of Quinault - Ruby or Rialto Beaches, etc. Very lovely and wild coastline.

Here's a newspaper article from a couple of years ago covering some camping sites on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula: http://www.seattlepi.com/getaways/271272_camping25.html

Don't miss the Hoh Valley (rainforest, visitors center) en route to Quinault.

Thanks so much for the info and Link...very helpful! I'm thinking of checking out the Lake Crescent campground although I worry it would be too similar a setting as Lake Quinault?

Do you recommend the ferry to Bainbridge because it is quicker or more scenic?

Not the same. Lake Quinault is in the rain forest. Lake Crescent is on the north (comparatively drier) side of the Peninsula. However the reason for staying around Lake Crescent or Port Angeles is the access you'll have to the mountains around Hurricane Ridge, plus the beaches around Dungeness and the Spit.

Plus if you wanted to burn a day you could take the foot passenger ferry from PA to Victoria BC in the morning, walk around the Inner Harbour, then ferry back to PA in the afternoon/evening. If that appeals, don't forget your passports.

Do the mountains--stay at Deer Park (gorgeous views, less developed) or Heart o' the Hills (easier to get to, but all forest) near Hurricane Ridge. Or stay at Lake Ozette and day hike the three miles to the wilderness coast at Sand Point/Cape Alava. Check for reservations at Ozette and Heart (Deer Park doesn't take them).
http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/campgrounds.htm

We have camped man times at the great campgrounds at Ocean Shores, Washington. This is a beautiful beach where we enjoyed digging for razor back clams.

Not sure how far from Seattle you want to be so perhaps Ocean Shores would be too far. But it has really nice campgrounds.

Several years ago we camped at Salt Creek campground, about 20 some miles west of Port Angeles. It is a county camp ground, but very well maintained and at night if it is clear you can see the light of Vancouver Island across the straits.
Here is a link: http://www.clallam.net/CountyParks/h..._saltcreek.htm
This puts you near the areas that are vey scenic. Try out Elwah River canyon