August, 2021
Just a short little blog post here about another sweet little campground I found in the Chimacum area. If I come back to this area (which I well might), I’d be happy to use this other campground that I found today.
It’s the Oak Bay Campground. It’s not part of the Washington State system of campgrounds. Oak Bay Campground is owned and operated by Jefferson County here in Washington. A campsite here at Oak Bay, with electricity, costs just $25/night, compared with the usual $35-$45/night for a state park campsite that has electricity.
There aren’t many campsites at Oak Bay, but to my mind that’s one of the attractions. It’s small and quiet.
My favorite campsites are the three sites below … 16, 17, and 19. Each has electricity (contrary to the sign above) and each campsite was exquisite … especially number 16 (the first photo below … ignore that the post says “15”, it really is “16”). I could back Towhee the Trailer in there and then sit at the dinette table inside my trailer (it’s at the back end of my trailer) and enjoy the view out my back window. But the other two campsites below are also perfect.
Ah, yes, the view. Let me show you the view from campsite #19 since it was unoccupied so I could walk in. The three photos below are “left” … “center” … and “right”. Along with ducks and shorebirds, and seagulls, and a number of Great Blue Herons, and boats coming up from the south to transit the Port Townsend Ship Canal on the left (I did that many times in my boat), the view is stunning. Not to mention the occasional sunset off to the right.
The end bit of this story is that I chatted briefly with one of the campground caretakers who lives in this campground in their RV. He confirmed that there are no camping reservations here. He also told me that on weekends, especially in good weather, the local folk take over the place and it’s chock-a-block full. But on weekdays, Sunday evening through Friday early afternoon, the place is often empty except for maybe 2 or 3 campers at most.
So … I said to him … why doesn’t Jefferson County accept camping reservations from Sunday at 3 pm to Friday at 3 pm, and charge an extra $5/night for that? That caretaker looked at me as though I had said something miraculous. He thought about it, and then said “I’m going to propose that!” I’m going to keep checking their website, bet your boots on that! 🙂
Update: As of June, 2024, there are still no reservations allowed even for weeknights when the place is mostly empty. Maybe they need help with setting up online reservations. I’ve already done that for other clubs. Guess I’ll write to them and offer to help. 🙂