July 20-25, 2025
Point Hudson … hmmm, where is that? Well, I’ll admit that I wouldn’t have known where it was, or that there was a campground there, except for my almost 30 years of boating experience on Puget Sound. Boating? At an RV campground? Well, that might seem odd, but there is a very nice little marina at Point Hudson for boats like the ones I owned. I’ve been there by boat, at that marina, a number of times, and I had noticed the campground up on land and thought, hmmm, maybe one of these days if I have an RV I’ll go camping there, hardly thinking I would. But now I went and I loved it.
In mid-July this year, I was at home and searching online when I found a camping spot cancellation at the Point Hudson marina/campground, and I was really looking forward to going camping there … at one of my old boating destinations. It turned out just super! I was very happy to be in that little campground right next to that little marina. And I had the nicest neighbors (photo below) who often sat on my picnic table and chatted with me. Hmm, or maybe it was THEIR picnic table and they allowed me to use it once in awhile.
“Ralph, is she out here again?”
“Yes she is, Clarice, but she seems like a nice human, and she did give us some fresh berries yesterday.”
“Well, that’s true, ok we’ll let her sit here again. She is quiet and we like that.”
For those of you in the Pacific NW of the USA or in the Pacific SW of Canada, here’s where I went. The marina and the campground are at the very northern end of the town of Port Townsend. The RED circle in the image below tells the tale. Whidbey Island is off to the east. There are two much smaller islands right next to each other (Marrowstone and Indian) that are south of me. And then there’s lots of boating and shipping traffic (leisure boating and commercial) that passes right by Point Hudson, going to and from the ocean, to and from Canada, to and from the San Juan Islands, and into Seattle and Tacoma and south Puget Sound. What a great vantage point this campground has.
The photo below shows where I was in that campground, and how close it is to the marina. The RED rectangle was my camping spot. There was nothing between me and the water of Puget Sound (to the left in the photo below) … I had a front row seat to watch the boats come and go in the marina and to watch all the activity out on Puget Sound.
And here is another view (below) from ground level. You’ll see the big white truck and Towhee the Trailer parked right next to each other. The marina is right behind the trailer (off to the right). Marrowstone and Indian islands are straight ahead in the middle of the photo, off in the distance, to the south of me. The skies are blue, the water perfectly calm. I have only one neighbor camper and he’s a comfortable distance away.
Then I walked past my trailer and out close to the beach, and took the photo below looking east towards Whidbey Island.
You can see there was nothing between my campsite and the beach, nothing to obstruct my view of Puget Sound, the islands, the gorgeous blue sky, the boats, the birds.
Then I took the video below. That’s a Washington State ferry heading off to the left. It had just loaded up with cars and trucks and a few folks who walked aboard at Port Townsend and was heading to Whidbey Island where it will off load those cars and trucks and people at the Keystone ferry landing near Fort Casey. Then it will load cars and trucks and walkers from Whidbey who are heading over to Port Townsend. It does this all day long, seven days a week, 365 days year, back and forth, back and forth.
I paused while taking the video below when my camera was pointed at the water right in front of me because I had been seeing Harbor Seals swimming out there, coming up for air, catching fish. But they wouldn’t surface for me while I had my camera pointed their way. Turn your sound up so you can listen to the seagulls’ calls. I love their sound.
The photo below shows about half of the marina … the left/east end of the marina … the entrance for boats coming in from Puget Sound is just out of the photo to the left.
And here below is the western half of the marina. That’s it. Small marina. Although the “slips” can hold boats up to 70 feet long, most boats in those larger/longer slips are 40-60 feet. And as you can see, there are LOTS of small boats too … day-sailers, small fishing boats, row boats.
I walked out onto one of the marina docks and turned around to take the photo below, looking back at Towhee the Trailer and a few other campers.
As you can see, this was a beautiful place … and I got the BEST campsite, simply because I happened to be checking online at home probably only a few hours after someone cancelled their reservation for this campsite.
The week here included a few lovely sunsets.
I could sit right outside my trailer door and watch the tide rise ….
And then six hours later, the tide had receded …. high tide, low tide, high tide, low tide … happens every day. The water comes in and goes out so slowly that you hardly notice it’s moving, but the difference in the end is dramatic.
Here below is another view of high tide. Notice the rocks on the left. Towhee the Trailer is right there, just off camera. Also notice that small sailboat with the dark blue hull … see how much water is around it?
Below … oops, six hours later … tide went out!
Now, don’t get the idea that I just sat and watched the tide rise and fall all week. 🙂 I explored many things and will show you the highlights. One of the things I loved was walking on the beach when the tide was out. The photo below is of the beach on the north side of the campground in the foreground. In the distance is the Point Wilson peninsula and lighthouse (at the end of the peninsula). There’s a campground over there too, but it doesn’t have campsites right on the water like this Point Hudson campground does. I hit the jackpot here.
Stay tuned for highlights from the week. Maybe I can get those Harbor Seals to show up and say a few words for the camera. 🙂