Camp Rilea to McKinley's Marina and RV Park, Waldport, Oregon

September 6-8, 2011 McKinley's Marina and RV Park Waldport, Oregon.


We enjoyed our stay at Camp Rilea taking advantage of the great rate ($20) and free laundry. We explored the local towns of Warrenton and Seaside and sampled some of the local cuisine.
Thursday, Sept. 6 we awoke to one of the prettiest sunny days of our stay as it has rained almost everyday. The temps have been in the low 60's during the day and 50's at night. But on this day we prepared to travel about 150 miles south along Hwy 101 to Waldport a small town just south of Newport, Oregon.

View Larger Map

Turnout on Hwy. 101.

Rico and Maggie checking out the views

Hwy 101 is twisty and rough in many spots with some short steep climbs and descents. After driving about a third of the way we stopped at an overlook to check out the rugged coastline. 

The rugged Oregon Coast in the ever present fog and mist.

Scenic Hwy 101

Just north of Newport we again stopped at a scenic turnout and checked out the shoreline views. We were lucky that our travel day was one of the very few days that it didn't rain here in the Northwest during our visit.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We soon arrived at our destination, McKinley's Marina and RV Park located on the water in Waldport, Oregon. We got checked in and had our choice of a few sites including a couple on the water's edge. However, it was breezier and cooler close to the water. Therefore, we chose a couple of sites near the center of the park. We each paid just under $200 for a week's stay with full hook-ups, strong WiFi and cable (even though we set up our satellites). 

Our site: 32

The sites are designed to be buddy sites meaning we could pull in at opposing directions and thus have our doors opening towards the center of both sites. We took site 32 and Paul and Paula took site 33. 

Paul and Paula's site to the left of ours.

Because of the nearly constant rain, we chose this park for the big concrete pads. Although it perhaps would have been nice to go to a scenic state park, we all thought the concrete pads would be much better for rainy conditions. We all got set up and enjoyed the rest of this rare sunny day. The RV Park is attached to a small marina and there are lots of recreational fisherman occupying the RV sites. Many are engaged in fishing for Salmon and setting crab traps for Dungeness Crabs.

The following day it rained but we drove into Newport to check out the grocery stores and to visit one of the lighthouses. Specifically the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Paul and Paula were interested in checking out this BLM location as they often advertise for volunteers. We checked out the visitor center and learned about some of the volunteer responsibilities. Perhaps not a bad volunteer job... in the summer!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

The weather wasn't cooperating as it was cold, windy and sporadically raining. However, we all managed to pose for a picture.

Joyce and I on the left next to Paula and Paul

The Oregon coastline is as beautiful as it is rugged. We will be here in Waldport for a week and if the weather gives us a little bit of cooperation, we shall get out and explore the area some more.

Travel Day Salt Creek to Warrenton, Oregon Camp Rilea

Sept. 27, 2011. Port Angeles, Wa. to Warrenton, Or.


We woke to cloudy skies and threatening rain. We had extended one day (last night) here at Salt Creek Recreation Area in hopes of avoiding rain. It didn't look like avoiding the rain today was likely. In fact, after getting hitched up the rain started. We both moved over to the dump station to drain our tanks as the rain fell in earnest. I generally make it a rule to not to drive in the rain for a couple of reasons. A. It's more dangerous. B. It makes a mess of everything. However, we were already committed and the chances of avoiding rain west of the Cascades in the State of Washington for the next several days was almost non-existent.
Today we were pushing south on Hwy 101 for about 242 miles through Washington and into Oregon. We finished dumping and were on the road by 9:30. The hope was to move to an area with a better short term forecast. 

View Larger Map

Highway 101 along the West coast of Washington is a very hilly winding two-lane highway heavily traveled by speeding monster log trucks. The highway travels through dense forests passing through just a few very small towns. It's rare to actually get a glimpse of the coast but, Paul leading the way, managed to find a turnout with a view for a quick break. 

Rough Surf.

Lighthouse on the island in the distance.

The off and on rain finally relented as we approached the Oregon state line. After several hours @3:30 we finally made it into the outskirts of Astoria, Oregon. Our destination was Camp Rilea in Warrenton, Oregon along the West Coast.

Entering Astoria, Oregon.

We quickly got checked in and set up in sites 1 and 2 at the end of the RV lot. There were only two other RVs at the far end.

Paul and Paula's rig in site 1, ours in site 2.

Camp Rilea is a beautifully maintained National Guard and Armed Forces Training Center. It's only available to active duty and retired military. However, we were allowed to use the facility as a guest of Paul who retired from the Coast Guard.

From atop the berm behind our rigs, we could see this small herd of elk. I couldn't get all of them into the frame of this picture. The elk wander around and have been seen in the fields in front of the rigs after dark.

The Camp Rilea RV facilities are basically a blacktop parking lot with full 50 amp hook-ups to include 50 plus channels of cable. There is no WiFi. A very nice bathroom and bath house facility is centered in the 10 site lot. 

We are schedule to stay till October 6th and paid $20 per night. The day after arriving we took it easy and washed the rig, truck and Jeep. Like I said, driving in the rain sure makes a mess of everything. We will use the location to explore portions of the coast and the surrounding areas.

Port Angeles, Wa. Salt Creek Rec. Area

September 19-26, 2011, Olympia Washington to Port Angeles.


I've fallen behind on the blog due to a lack of internet/ data service this past week, so in the interest of catching up, I'm combining several days into this one blog post:


We got up early at American Heritage Campground with the hope of getting an early start for Port Angeles. Paul and I got started with hosing off the top of our fifth wheels as the roof and slides were covered with wet pine needles. Of course that made a mess on the ground turning the already saturated ground to mud. 
I wanted to make note that while in Olympia, I had the truck serviced at almost 20K miles to include an oil change, fuel filter change and changing the fluid in the two differentials.

After our delayed start, we got rolling up Highway 101 past some beautiful scenery towards Port Angeles.

View Larger Map

Paul and Paula pulling their rig along the east cost of the Olympic Pennisula

After a few hours of driving on highway 101 we made it to Salt Creek Recreation Area just west of Port Angeles. This county park is right on the coast offering 50 amp electric and water sites ans well as primitive sites. There is a dump station. During the season, reservations are recommended. Paul and Paula took site 34 and we took site 36, both pull throughs. The sites are a bit close but we weren't expecting anyone in site 35 till Friday so we had some "extra room". We soon discovered after setting up that our phones were roaming and we were getting a message warning of international data rates. Apparently we were picking up the tower on the Canadian coast across the Strait of Juan De Fuca. 

Site 36

We ended up shutting off our phones and MIFI to avoid international data charges at $2 a minute! We discovered later that local phone service for our Verizon phones was available at other spots within the park.

Coast line 30 yds from the front of our rig.

Steep cliffs on the shoreline

We each paid $25 a night for a site, but we also paid an additional $5 a night for our "extra vehicle" that fit in our site. The set-up is designed for self-pay with a print-out that indicates which sites are reserved or available. We picked our own sites. We stayed for 8 nights after extending a day because of rainy weather.

Speaking of rain, as you could guess, its a pretty common occurrence in this part of the country! It rained off and on for most of our stay but the temps were moderate with lows in the 50's and highs in the 60-70's.

The ever present fog.

The Strait of Juan De Fuca is part of the "Whale Trail" and whales and other marine life according to literature is often spotted in the marine sanctuary. We didn't see anything but ships, birds and kelp.

Tongue Point view of a small island.

Just a few miles from Salt Creek is the small town of Joyce. Well of course, Joyce had to pay a visit.

We did some sightseeing to include a trip with Paul and Paula to Port Townsend and this light house located within Fort Worden State Park.

Port Townsend downtown.

Paul, Paula and Joyce in Port Townsend

Of course, no trip to the Olympic Peninsula would be complete without a visit to Olympic National Park. We cruised by Crescent Lake inside the park, a beautiful long deep water lake.

On Saturday, we paid a trip to Hurricane Ridge inside Olympic Park to check out the visitor center. It was very windy on the ridge, thus the name...Hurricane.

Mt. Olympus just left of center.

We did a short 2 mile hike along the ridges near the visitor center. It was a beautiful but windy day for a short hike.

Puget Sound in the distance

Olympic National Park is very large with diverse ecosystems to include a rain forest. The forests in this area are so incredibly dense with foliage and trees that it's actually dark under the forest canopy. Trees literally have moss growing on their trunks and limbs. Beautifully damp and dark, perfect for Vampires and Werewolves.... Okay, we did take a day to go visit Forks, Washington, the fictional home for the characters in the Twilight books and movie series. You'll need to check out the Facebook link on the top of this page for the America By RV page to see some more pictures of Forks that Joyce posted.

And on another note: While staying at Salt Creek Recreation Area, we had the Jeep serviced in Port Angeles at just under 20K miles to include an oil change, PCM update, differential fluid changes and tire rotation.

Our next move should put us in Oregon!