May 29 – June 2, 2023
Finally! The first camping trip of 2023. It was extraordinarily wonderful. I will assuredly return to “Eightmile Campground” (a National Forest campground) in the future. So let me tell you about this visit, my first visit here.
Why is it called “Eightmile Campground”? And where is “Eightmile Campground”? Well, it is exactly eight miles from Leavenworth, WA. I know it is that distance because I drove that road a number of times and it is precisely eight miles from Leavenworth. But where is Leavenworth, WA?
Ok, here’s a map that shows the route from my home to Leavenworth.
In the image above, you’ll see a narrow red line that represents the route I drove with the big white truck, with Towhee the Trailer in tow, from my home near Olympia to Leavenworth. From the Olympia area, I drove north on I-5, then turned onto highway 18, then a right turn onto I-90 eastbound, crossing Snoqualmie Pass. Just past the town of Cle Elum (clee ellum), I turned off of I-90, and turned onto highway 10, then onto highway 970, then another left onto highway 97 and then up into and over gorgeous Blewett Pass and down to highway 2. Left onto highway 2, then north into Leavenworth, WA. Piece of cake. 🙂 And yes, I had researched this route ahead of time! And had the instructions printed out right beside me in the cab of my big white truck … the driving instructions, and copies of maps. Total driving time in a car would be around 3 hours, or a little more. With my trailer in tow and one stop to check tires and such, it took me about 5 hours.
And then, as you approach Leavenworth with your trailer in tow, do NOT go into town. Instead, here’s the best way to get to “Eightmile Campground” when you are approaching from the south as I was and you’re towing a trailer or driving a larger motorhome and you are heading to Eightmile Campground.
Turn left on “East Leavenworth Road” just before crossing the bridge. The bridge will be obvious and there’s only one street/road that you can turn left on before the bridge, so do that. After a few miles, when “East Leavenworth Road” comes to a “T” and a stop sign, turn left onto “Icicle Road”. Follow that road and be sure to notice Icicle Creek to your left right along side the road.
Then drive until you see the sign below. And you’re there!
You’ll turn left into the campground. Then turn right, then right again, then right again … and then I saw my friends (in campsite #4) and we all waved and I stopped and we talked … and then I drove on around to my campsite … #8.
Well, who greeted me there? My friends’ dog, Finn! He likes me and he was right there to guide me in to my campsite.
“Ann, Ann, Ann, here, here, here, Ann, Ann, back in here, here!” He’s not subtle. 🙂
He looked to his left (watch his tail pointing to his left too).
And then he looked to his right (the tail moved to the right).
And then he said again, “Ann, Ann, Ann, all is clear, Ann, Ann, now, now, now, back in!”
So of course, I did as instructed. 🙂
My friends kindly left me to settle in, unhitch, figure things out, etc. I hooked up the remote solar panel (photos below) since there was a lot of shade here and my roof solar would be in shade most of the time (no elec hookups here). I also unloaded a whole bunch of firewood (also in the photos below) that I’d brought to contribute to our evening campfires.
And you can see how private this campsite is! I couldn’t see another camper in any direction!
In fact, even as close as my campsite #8 was to my friends’ campsite #4 … here’s the view from me to them (below). We had assumed there would be a path through the woods between the campsites but there wasn’t one. And we sure didn’t make one as we believe in letting the forest take over as much as possible. So anytime we wanted to visit each other we walked around on the blacktop road which took us a whole 30 seconds! In fact, one day Finn showed up at my trailer without his owners. We are buddies. 🙂
And so … after a long day’s drive, over new roads (to me), and always listening to the truck and the trailer for possible noises that might evidence problems, but hearing none. And then finding the campground, and my campsite, and my friends, and getting the trailer backed in and level and settled. And getting my dinner cooked and eaten and dishes done.
Finally, it was time for a campfire. One of my friends loves to mess with a campfire, I think she’s addicted to it. But she’s super at it and builds the best campfires I’ve ever seen. 🙂
After a busy day, with everything going perfectly as planned, and after an absolutely perfect, relaxing evening with my friends around a perfect campfire, I finally trundled back to my trailer for a perfectly peaceful night’s sleep. Perfect. 🙂
Tomorrow … adventures! 🙂
Awesome! And nothing like a decent camp fire at the end of a long day!
Thank you Lisa. May the two of you have all good things like campfires, a nice boat to float around on, etc. 🙂 Whatever your decision is about that, know that there’s a connection here, you/s have a friend here. It’s so nice to see your comment! 🙂
Icicle creek! I’ve got a picture of a certain redhead camping there. (Different campground I assume.) If I’m remembering correctly that was the trip that Susie (Suzy ?) came along and ran off and everybody was in a a panic. Fortunately we found her and everything turned out fine.
I remember laying there in my sleeping bag, listening to the roar of the creek, sounding like a phalanx of bombers flying overhead. Funny how vivid things like that can seem in the night when there are no familiar sounds to keep one grounded. .
Of course that was 50+ years ago😯!.
Looking forward to your adventures this trip.
Ha! “a certain redhead” indeed. Well, mostly it’s grey or white these days, but I remember that camping trip where I brought Suzy along … but I didn’t remember it was on Icicle Creek, in fact I have no memory of where we were. But I knew we had fun, once that critter Suzy decided to be found.
Wow, so that camping trip was about 50 years ago. Wow. And, I met you when I had just turned 18 … so that would be, oh gosh, got to take my shoes off to count that high. 🙂 Ok, that was in the autumn of 1966 … so 57.5 years ago. Lots of history there. Still more history to come!
Peshashtin is a town just south of Leavenworth. And it has what are called the Peshashtin Pinnacles just outside that town. When I was a young boy, my folks took me hiking up into the Peshashtin Pinnacles, into what seemed to me to be HUGE mountains, MONSTROUSLY HUGE mountains. That hike is what led me to so many more hikes and back-country travels in my life. But today, when I drive by those HUGE Peshashtin Pinnacles mountains, they aren’t so huge. 🙂 Fascinating, yes, but not so huge. Hope you got down to see them.
I did! Yes, I/we did get down to Peshashtin Pinnacles. We didn’t hike up into the pinnacles but we walked around below them. I’ll share photos here soon. How cool that was the hiking trip that started you off on your adventures. Now when I look at my photos, I’ll remember that. Thank you Steve. I like that.
Finn is great. 🙂
So nice to see you camping again. Gorgeous campfire.
Finn is super. 🙂 Not everyone knows that, but he does and now some of us here on this blog do too. Thanks David.
Camping, yay! I’m so impressed by your route planning, and maps you keep with you. I get nervous about heading into unknown territory, but I’ll take your lead and do the research. Others have before me … I’ll be fine. And maybe there will be a little pup to welcome me too. 🙂 That was so cool.
If you have access to the internet, it’s an amazing resource for campground info, route planning, weather, alternate route/camping options, where the closest veterinarian is, gas stations, tire repair store, etc. Besides my cell phone (with its small screen), inside the trailer I carry a fully charged laptop so I have a decent size screen to view/read. On one trip early on in my camping career, I didn’t have electricity at the campsite, and I didn’t have backup batteries, so I went to the local library to recharge both my laptop and my cell phone. Any time I’ve needed help with something, I ask the police, fire department, library, medical offices, even museum employees … everyone I’ve encountered can’t help me enough! Some said “come to dinner!” I declined those offers, but rest assured there are lots of really nice folks out there who will happily lend a hand or steer you in the right direction. Go! Love what you find. 🙂
Finn has a voice! And I like that you want the forest to grow. And that you use solar instead of a generator. Come to Neah Bay, we have campgrounds.
Yes, I wish more people understood his voice. I don’t always understand, but I listen.
Neah Bay is on my list! I’ll let you know when I’m coming Mary, would be great to meet you.
Go Finn!! 🙂
Nice campfire photo. Glad you’re camping again.
Go Finn!! 🙂 Thanks Paul.
Looks like a gorgeous spot in a gorgeous campground in a gorgeous part of our country. Let’s continue to support saving land like this … no commercial oil/coal/gas drilling/etc. That campfire is perfect … keep your friends who build perfect campfires! 🙂
I’m with you, Olivia. I would rather have less in my life, and reduce the use of coal and natural gas (and fracking!!) and petroleum. Europe has long been using wind generators on top of large and small commercial trucks to charge their batteries so they burn less diesel/gas. The USA is so far behind some other countries. There is more and more solar power being used on boats in other countries, with some narrowboats in Europe using ONLY solar power, no gas/diesel engine.
Oh, I’ll keep my campfire burning friends for sure. 🙂
I liked all of your “perfect” comments at the end. 🙂 Washington State is so beautiful. So perfect. Looking forward to your adventures on this camping trip.
🙂 Thanks Nebraska. Your comment was “perfect.”
Gorgeous campground. Nice fire. Nice pup.
Thanks Joe. 🙂