Dosewallips, a sweet goodbye

September, 2024

This morning it was time to leave Dosewallips State Park and head home. I’d been here six days, but I sure could have happily stayed longer. I really loved it here, partly because of the elk, but partly because of how beautiful it is here and partly because of my other adventures in the area, even the non-elk ones! But this morning, it was time to hitch up and head home.

In the photo above, I was getting ready to hitch the trailer to the truck. One of the nice things I did here was to reserve a campsite that had a sewer dump connection right at the campsite, such that I could empty both the grey water tank (dishwater, etc) and the black water tank (toilet tank). Both tanks would be empty before I left. This was my last camping trip of the year. Ordinarily, I need to find somewhere to dump those tanks before parking the trailer for the winter, so the liquid in those tanks doesn’t freeze. But, since the tanks will now be empty, I won’t have that extra work to do AFTER I get home.

In the photo below, you can see the dump hose that I attached in order to empty the tanks. That one dump hose empties both tanks.

In the photo below, you can see how the dump hose connects … and that there are two solid black plastic pipes, one on each side of the central connection. And each has a valve inline. The pipe on the left is for toilet or “black water” (hence a black valve) … the pipe on the right is for sink or “grey water” (hence a grey valve). I attach the large drain hose using that orange connector.

[Some of you will notice that the metal strap that should be tight to support the black water pipe has come loose. I replaced it with a better one as soon as I got home.]

Then, after the connection described above, I support the large drain hose with plastic support brackets (photo below) so the liquid drains fairly evenly without many low spots.

And finally (below), the outlet end of that drain hose fits into the in-ground sewer drain using a 90-degree fitting on the end of the drain hose. The yellow fitting (below) is a permanent part of the campground’s sewer drain fitting. The orange and white and black stuff is all part of my drain hose. It’s all very tidy! And actually easy to use. After my hose is connected and secure, I open the black tank valve, let all of that liquid flow out and into the dump drain, then I close the black tank valve. Then I open the grey/sink tank valve and dump that water. That sink drain water is relatively clean and even has some dishwashing soap in it, so that water goes through the drain hose last and helps clean the hose. I wear gloves when setting up and taking down this system. And the hose is stored in a box so it never touches any other trailer or truck equipment. It’s a bit more complicated than all of that, a few more details, but not much.

So, that winter-prep chore got done! And then it was an easy thing to disconnect the electricity, then hitch up the truck to the trailer, move a few things from the trailer into the truck, make sure everything inside the trailer was safe and secure for the trip home, check the running lights on the trailer, check the brakes, etc.

I always then take a few moments before driving off to look around the area, make sure I haven’t forgotten something, and give thanks to the surrounding area.

The people in that Escape trailer who arrived yesterday afternoon had already left earlier this morning (photo below), heading for their next destination. The white ramp on the side of the cabin was where I stood to take photos of the elk yesterday afternoon, when that female elk looked right at me!

And then it was time to get in the truck and head out.

In the map below, the large red dot near the bottom of the map was my campsite. The red line is the route I drove to leave the campground. The route to leave the campground will eventually follow the dotted green line, but I got waylaid! I got stopped at the large red dot near the top of the map below. By what? Why?

Well, take a look …. 🙂 Elk!

I was driving slowly through the campground, drove around that curve near the top of the map, and there they were … elk crossing the road right in front of me. Zounds! There happened to be a nice wide spot just off the right side of the paved road, so the big white truck and Towhee the Trailer and I pulled over and stopped! The elk had again come in from the north, having walked along the Dosewallips River (the “Dosey”) after their overnight sleep out along Hood Canal. It was just my luck to arrive here at the exact moment they were entering the campground. What could I do? I shut the engine off, rolled down my driver’s window, and started taking photos. 🙂

 

 

And then I set my camera on “video” hoping for some good video action. Boy did I get it! And yes, the last elk to pass by my truck at the end of the video below really was that close to me, I was NOT using the zoom. Also, notice how sure-footed the elk are on the blacktop, no slipping and sliding at all. That was a topic of discussion on the last blog post here.

Wow, that was great! I figured that would be the end of the parade, but a few moments later this lone female came out of the woods and crossed over into the campground, after Henry had passed me by. I have noticed that sometimes the alpha female will be the last one of the group, coming along after Henry, but this female (below) wasn’t the alpha female. She was large, but she wasn’t the alpha. Hmmm, what’s with that?

I almost drove on, but I just had a hunch so I waited just another 30 seconds or so. Ah ha! Here comes Clarice! She is larger and darker than any of the other females.

 

I took the two still photos above and then kept trying to turn the knob on my camera back to “video” and, at one point, I was so excited that I almost dropped the camera out the window onto the blacktop, but I caught it just in time. It was such a thrill to see these folks so close, knowing that they knew I was there (my arms/hands were hanging out my driver’s side window!), and yet they seemed very much ok that I was that close to them.

I waited another 30 seconds or so, to make sure Clarice had walked across the road and was into the campground itself, in among those buildings in the photos above, before I started my truck up again and very slowly pulled out … then I drove around the road that has the dotted green line on the map above and I eventually exited Dosewallips State Park and headed southbound on highway 101 towards home.

What a spectacular week. 🙂