My friend and I (late 20s early 30s) are looking to head from Portland up to the San Juan's for a long weekend. We'd leave Sat early and head back Monday night. Still debating whether to camp or stay at a hotel and whether or not to bring the dog. We are just friends so looking for good times but nothing romantic!! Plan to take the bikes as well. Any suggestions for where to stay, prefer to keep it around $100 a night at the most. I know it's high season....any tips helpful! Also, do we need passports if we head into BC teritory? Thanks....can't wait to go!!

Camp, if you want something less than $100 (which is hard/impossible to find during high season). Great weather, beautiful scenery.

Taking a dog is a bit of a bother (leash laws/restrictions and ferry). Also, you can't go to BC w/the dog- you'd have to kennel him/her.

Bikes are a great idea. Also take a car to get around the island (esp. if camping)

Have a great time

Yes, you need passports!

Moran State Park has beautiful lake side camp sites. I don't believe you actually need passports for Canada. That initiative to require passports still has not be finalized. On my last trip they definitely wanted proof of citizenship, but were very willing to accept birth certification cards. They wanted two separate proofs of identity, a drivers license and birth certificate OR passport. You will get back into the country without a passport, but if you have one all the better. Pending final approvals, all US reentry will require passports starting Jan. 1, 2007.

Moran St. Park takes reservations but it's very popular and I imagine it's booked for this weekend. You can check this online-look at San Juan County Park and Spencer Spit State Park (I LOVE Spencer), too, and hope that you can reserve a site. If you can't make a reservation, I think you will have a very hard time finding a campspot anywhere UNLESS you go up before Saturday-thursday would be best. There is also a private campground on San Juan called Lakeview-give them a call to see if they have spots. I've never stayed there so I don't know what it's like.

I can't think of any accomdation that costs less than $100/night except for the hostel on San Juan. Whatever you do, don't go up there without reservations-you will likely find yourself stranded.

If you can plan your visit without having to bring your car (i.e. bike around, hotel shuttle), then you may want to do so. Otherwise, you are likely to spend a considerable length of time in ferry lines on either side. I was at a wedding up there last weekend, and stories ranged from being the last car on the boat after showing up 1 hour early on Friday morning to showing up at noon on Sunday and being in the middle of the pack for the 4:30 ferry to go back. Walk on and you can show up 5 minutes before departure.

Oops...and I forgot to offer this suggestion, recommended by a friend of mine. I haven't been there myself; he says it's a bit hippie, but fabulous views. They have hostel beds and campsites available cheap, and a room for $120 this weekend.

http://www.doebay.com/accommodations.html

Great! I will definitely check out all the campsites, hopefully we can get something nice...it's very last minute, I just moved to Portland in May and had never even heard of the San Juan Islands...had no idea how popular they were!

We plan to take a car but then have bikes to island hop with as much as possible. The hostel thing sounds good too if we can't find camping...we're pretty low maintenance, just looking for some good food and scenery and slow moving days!

The private campground is Lakedale Resort. I would avoid it! We stayed there a few years ago to car camp, and it was just awful. The tent sites were so close to each other, so much so that we felt very claustrophobic. The bathrooms and the area to wash dishes were filthy. I could go on, but I won't bore you with details. Suffice to say that it was the last time we have car camped and now we stick to backpacking. Even without being picky, I just cannot recommend this place.

What about actual camp sites/general areas of campground. Any recs? Moran seems to have a fair amount on line at least...more water = better! Also, what about campgrounds on San Juan such as Mitchell Bay?

I like the sites at Mt. Lake at Moran best-it's a little more secluded. It's a huge campground in general and kind of a zoo-lots of kids riding bikes, that kind of thing. NOT for people looking for seclusion. I looked online and Moran is booked solid for this weekend. You do mean THIS weekend, right? And you typed in your dates on the website?

The beach sites at Spencer Spit are walk in, but only 1/4 mile, and are great (though there are no trees or anything to keep you from seeing your neighbors). I saw that they do have one campsite at Spencer available this weekend, but not on the beach.

San Juan County Park is kind of basic-it's basically just a grassy area. BUT, you can usually see whales offshore, and you can hear them coming from a ways away when you camp there, which is neat.

That's good to know about Lakedale-thanks for posting that.
Another private campground I forgot to mention, but I've never been there, is West Beach Resort on Orcas.

Beware of the "cabins" at Doe Bay. Many are old, gross trailers that have plywood nailed around them to make them look like cabins.

With only two nights you won't even get to see all of whichever island you stay on, so island hopping might not be a great idea on this one trip.

Good luck!

You're right...I wasn't looking at the right thing, Moran is booked. I'm starting to think this isn't going to be as doable as we thought. We are notorious for taking last minute getaways but maybe this isn't the place (or the time) to do so. I did try San Juan Parks, they have a few available on Shaw and Lopez but will be walk up only. Will keep trying and d/w my friend what she wants. I guess if all else fails we can just spend a few days in Seattle and take the bikes on to island hop for a day trip instead. We'll see...appreciate the tips!

If there's nothing in the San Juans, try the parks on Whidbey Island (although I don't know their names), or Fort Flagler State Park on Marrowstone Island. There is great cycling there, both mountain biking (within the park) and road biking (around the island). The campsites are in a meadow right at the beach.

Whidbey is a great idea! We used to go to Deception Pass State Park and loved it. There was another place we went, but I don't know the name of it. I can ask DH tonight if you are interested.

Looks like Whidbey/Deceptions Pass are booked on Sat but have some available Sunday so that might be an option...thanks!

Oh and what about Pacific Beach or Paradise Point...they look like they have some available Sat too. What island are they on?

They aren't on islands-one is on the ocean, the other is near Portland, OR. You can search the parks by a map on the WA state parks webpage, if that would help you decide, though state park campgrounds are very popular and on an August weekend, there might not be much available.

Yeah- private campgrounds are your best bet- state can be booked months before. If you get desperate- KOAs usually have free tent sites (just not pretty like state park) then day trip everywhere.....

What about Lopez Family Cottages and tent camping? Ok, they have availability. I think we were going to try that for Sat night....