Many campgrounds around the North Olympic Peninsula will be at or near capacity this Memorial Day weekend.
Those looking for a last-minute site would be wise to try Olympic National Park, where reservations generally aren’t accepted.
Sequim Bay State Park and Fort Worden State Park Conference Center are essentially booked.
“There’s not much,” Steve Gilstrom, manager of Sequim Bay State Park, said Thursday.
“It is the big weekend.”
Gilstrom said about six drop-in campsites, mostly for tents only, were available for the weekend as of Thursday afternoon.
The nightly cost at Sequim Bay, which has about 90 sites, is $16 for a tent site and $22 for trailer hook-ups.
To make reservations at Sequim Bay and other state parks other than Fort Worden, call 888-226-7688.
Reservations at Fort Worden can be made by calling 360-344-4400.
Just don’t expect to find anything this weekend.
“We are sold out,” Steve Shively, assistant manger of the Fort Worden park, said Thursday when asked about this weekend.
Old Fort Townsend
Shively suggested anyone wanting to camp near Fort Worden try Old Fort Townsend State Park, where 45 sites operate on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We anticipate that they won’t fill until much later in the weekend,” Shively said.
Old Fort Townsend’s sites cost between $10 and $21. Shively said many of them aren’t big enough for large trailers.
Other state parks on the North Olympic Peninsula that allow camping are Bogachiel, Fort Flagler and Dosewallips.
For more information, log onto www.parks.wa.gov/parks, or call 360-902-8844.
Olympic National Park
The national park is a good bet for those pulling onto the Peninsula without a reservation as all areas are on a first-come, first-served basis this weekend.
“It’s very much weather dependent,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said Thursday of the traditional turnout for Memorial Day weekend.
Nightly campground fees run from $8 to $16. Kalaloch’s reservation period begins June 15.
Here’s a list of the park’s frontcountry campgrounds, including some details and nightly fees:
* Altaire (located on the shore of the Elwha River, 30 sites, $10).
* Deer Park (just below the summit of Blue Mountain, 14 sites, $8).
* Elwha (located in the Elwha Valley, 40 sites, $10).
* Fairholm (located on the western edge of Lake Crescent, 88 sites, $10).
* Graves Creek (situated along the forested shore of the Quinault River, 30 sites, $10).
* Heart O’ The Hills (located just beyond the entry station on Hurricane Ridge Road, 105 sites, $10).
* Hoh (within the Hoh Rain Forest on the banks of the Hoh River, 88 sites, $10).
* Kalaloch (located along the Pacific Coast, 175 sites, $12, but $16 during the reservation period that begins June 15).
* Mora (located along the Quillayute River about 2 miles from Rialto Beach, 95 sites, $10).
* North Fork (located along the shores of the North Fork Quinault River, seven sites, free).
* Ozette (on the northern tip Lake Ozette, 15 sites, $10). The nearby and privately owned Lost Resort offers overflow camping.
* Queets (on the shores of the Queets River, 20 sites, $8).
* Sol Duc (next to the Sol Duc River with some river-front sites, 82 total sites, $12).
* South Beach (located along the Pacific Coast south of Kalaloch, 50 sites, $8).
* Staircase (located beyond the north end of Lake Cushman, 56 sites, $10).
The Staircase, Hoh, Altaire, Elwha, Heart O’ the Hills and Sol Duc campgrounds can only be reached beyond a park entry station, where an additional access fee is charged.
Campgrounds inside Olympic National Park have no hook-ups, showers or laundry facilities.
Call the park’s recorded information line at 360-565-3130 for more information.
For information about camping inside Olympic National Forest, visit www.fs.fed.us/r6/olympic/recreation/cmpgrds.html or call 360-956-2402.
