September, 2024
I promised to show you some of my travels along Hood Canal during this camping trip so you can see how beautiful Hood Canal is. Here’s that photo from last week’s blog post. It’s so gorgeous.
As you might have guessed, Hood Canal isn’t really a canal. It is not a man-made canal. It’s about 62 miles long, with the widest point being about 6 miles wide (just north of Seabeck on the Kitsap Peninsula). That’s big! No human beings dug this waterway! The original name given to this waterway was “Hood’s Channel”, but the name got switched to “Hood Canal” and was never corrected.
The view in the photo above is from the shore along the edge of Right Smart Cove (north of Dosewallips). The view is looking south from that spot on the Olympia Peninsula towards the Kitsap Peninsula in the distance. Because the view is looking south down Dabob Bay, then over to the Kitsap Peninsula, this view isn’t considered to be looking “across” Hood Canal, even though Dabob Bay is considered to be part of Hood Canal. The view in the photo above is more than seven miles from beach to beach.The water is all ocean salt water that comes in from the Pacific Ocean, then through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then comes down a few miles of the most northern part of Puget Sound, then that ocean salt water splits, part heading down the rest of Puget Sound, and part heading south into Hood Canal. Here’s a wikipedia article about Hood Canal. And here’s a map below. Ok, two maps.
The image above shows pretty much all of Puget Sound, from Olympia in the south to the top of Whidbey Island in the north. Puget Sound is about 100 miles long (top to bottom, in a straight line). A bit of Canada is in the upper left.
The image BELOW has lots of description. Notice the HUGE population centers on the east side of Puget sound … Everett, Edmonds, Redmond (Bellevue is immediately east of Seattle and is one of the largest centers of population in Washington State). Then Seattle, of course, and then Renton, Kent, Federal Way, Tacoma. This corridor of human population is all just one long huge population of humans. I’ve always wondered why so many people settled on the east side of Puget Sound. Sure, there are cities on the west side, Bremerton is one, but Bremerton is a Navy town with large Navy facilities and the Navy did NOT want to be near a major city like Seattle. The west side of Puget Sound is known for its many small towns.
In the image below, Hood Canal is the YELLOW line. Hood Canal starts at the north and is fed by the same ocean salt water that feeds all of Puget Sound. At the south end of Hood Canal it’s a dead end. It does not connect with Puget Sound. The RED star is where I’m camped.
At the south end of Hood Canal, you’ll see I added a short RED line. Several decades ago, there were plans to build/cut a canal (a real canal) through the land and connect Hood Canal with “south sound”, south Puget Sound. But when it was realized that the water height was many meters different between those two waterways, then the canal idea was dumped. Still, the idea was pushed forward to build a large lock between those two southern waterways, to allow boat traffic to pass through a set of locks that would lift or lower the boats in either direction. But when fisheries folk and environmental folk stepped in and said how negatively that would affect both Hood Canal and “south sound” (since water and wildlife would then flow in both directions), and when it was realized how much the canal and a set of huge locks would cost, then all ideas were quashed.
Today, Hood Canal remains one of THE hot spots for crabbing and fishing hereabouts. Hood Canal has been an important source of food for thousands of years, long before northern European immigrants arrived. So I’m glad that the little RED line at the bottom of Hood Canal never happened.
As well, Puget Sound cities are major destinations for international shipping … Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma … all receive huge international ships. Those ships come in through the Strait of Juan de Fuca along the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula. Many ships enter the USA along that route, but an equal number of ships enter that route and then head to Canada, mostly to the city of Vancouver, but also to other destinations. This is an international shipping destination equal to, or larger than, the destination of San Francisco and Los Angeles combined.
With all of the busy-ness of shipping in this area, with huge ships heading up and down Puget Sound along the east side of Puget Sound, you might see then how quiet that side route of Hood Canal might be. There are NO destinations for large ships there, there are no major towns. It’s just us folks and our little boats … and our campers winding our way along the roadways. It’s so peaceful along Hood Canal.
Today as I was driving up and down Hood Canal in the area around Dosewallips in my big white truck, I came upon this location (below). How pretty!
It’s privately owned and is a day-use-only area for paddle board and kayak rentals. It does offer parking for campers, with electricity, but it is truly day-use only. Oh my gosh, I wish they offered overnight camping! I could back my trailer right up to that beach and have an exquisite view out over the water.
Below … standing on the beach and looking to the left.
The view below is looking to the right. Ah me, what a peaceful life that would be to live here.
But, on I went down the road in search of other interesting things. I pulled off the road when I saw this sign below.
There was no camping here, but there was access to the beach and the water. And, again, such a beautiful view. You can see a small boat launch ramp, and a dock that you can temporarily tie your boat to while you park your vehicle and boat trailer … and you can fish from that dock.
What a pretty little cove. And look at the large RV parked in among the trees on that outcrop of land. I could live there!
What a view they have! Notice the mountains, the Cascade Mountains in the distance. What a gorgeous view that would be in the winter when those mountains are covered in snow and ice.
And, again, those views are to the left or straight ahead. The photo below is to the right side of Triton Cove. Very few homes here, almost no boats on the water, very few cars on the roads. It’s so quiet here.
And then, on down the road I went again. 🙂 The two photos below are of a large grassy wetland area that extended quite a way out into Hood Canal. You wouldn’t be able to walk out there, even though it looks like land. It’s really soaking wet with the salt water of Hood Canal and with fresh water from a stream that feeds in here. This is great bird habitat because of all the food available for them, and because no humans are out there to bother them.
On down the road again, and I came across this place (below) … an RV park! And it was right on the edge of the water!!
The campsites were cheek-to-jowl close together, but it was truly right on the beach, right next to the water. Depending on who your neighbors were in the campsite next to you, this could be a great place for a week’s worth of relaxation, beach walking, bird watching, and enjoying gorgeous sunrises over the water. Ok, it’s on my list.
Finally, it was time to head back to Dosewallips and my campsite. As much as I loved those waterfront views, the cozy warm welcome of this campsite really pleased me. Any time I’m gone for a few hours in the big white truck or especially if I’m out for an all-day exploration, when I finally get back to Towhee the Trailer and she’s sitting there comfy as can be, it sure feels like I’ve come home.
Please share thoughts and questions … information about these locations that I may have missed … ideas about other similar sorts of locations/explorations. Where have you been that’s similar? Or quite different! It’s all good. I love your comments. 🙂 Thanks for coming along!
More local explorations coming soon! 🙂