Hi, from Western Washington State

[PacNWCampers]

We just purchased our first travel trailer, a 2015 Salem Cruise Lite. We've been sporadic tent campers, so this is all new to us. We plan to do a trial run this weekend at a nearby Army campground.

Anyone else live near Fort Lewis (JBLM)?

Gina

[Nacho]

We bought our first travel trailer at the end of last year. 2014 26tbud we live in moses lake wa prob about a 3 hour drive. Would like to do camping in western Wa but don't know of any good sites. We have camped in tents the last 10yrs or so around the Lake Roosevelt area.

We are working on our 4th trip for the year.😀

[PacNWCampers]

We used to live in Spokane and still have family over there, so we're pretty familiar with the Moses Lake area. We've only camped over here once so far, and we went to the KOA at Bay Center/Willapa Bay. Bay Center / Willapa Bay KOA | Camping in Washington | KOA Campgrounds It was a decent park with good owners.

We love to go to Westport, Pacific Beach, Ocean Shores, and Long Beach. There are state and private CGs up and down the coast there. We've only been to the KOA, like I said, but we plan to check out some of the state parks this summer.

If you have any military or government affiliation, there are two or three CGs on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and one on Camp Murray. We're making our first trip close by at the Fort Lewis one this weekend.

Gina

[The RB]

Welcome to the forum !

[MMattox]

Welcome to the forum, you will find a lot of great people here on this site. I am in Everett, and one of our favorite camp grounds is called Howard Miller Steelhead Park. It is right on the river nestled in the mountains. Amazingly quiet and run by great people. Rusty is great to talk to and deal with. I highly recommend this park if you are wanting to head up north. It is about and hour and a half from Everett Near where the Oso slide is. The part is in the town of Rockport 15 minutes East of Concrete Washington. Enjoy your new camper!

Mike

[PacNWCampers]

Thanks, Mike. I'll add it to my ever-growing list of CGs in the state.

Gina

[F and E Damp]

Welcome, Gina. We're residents of Anacortes, ex-pat Brits and I'm a Boeing retiree. Around here, we've got Deception Pass SP and Bayview SP. We went to both of them during our initial shakedown trips.

We've done the Oregon coast from Astoria to Brookings, a wonderful trip, but maybe best done the opposite direction so that the turn-outs to the sights are on your side of the road rather than having to turn across oncoming traffic.

We've also covered quite a bit over the mountains. One of our favorites over there is Charbonneau SP not too far from Tri-Cities. We also like a private CG just outside Leavenworth, along highway 97 about 7 miles from the junction with US2. It's called "Blu-Shastin" and sits on a tributary of the Wenatchee River. Haven't been for a couple of seasons, but very nice ex-pat Brits run the place. They're from the same area of the UK as us.

Unfortunately, it looks as though this will be our last year as RVers, and it's likely we'll only be using the rig as extra accommodation for visitors in August. On a limited SocSec/Boeing pension budget, the escalating prices of gas and CGs are making it very difficult.

[PacNWCampers]

Thanks for the info on the CG near Leavenworth. We really like that area and look forward to taking the TT over there. We'd eventually like to do the Oregon coast down to the Bay Area of CA, but that's a ways off.

I hear you on gas prices. It's awful. We really feel it since we went from a Prius to our Dodge Ram in order to get a TT. I'm gutted when I have to fill the Ram's tank. But we have wanted to have an RV for years and years now, so we decided to go ahead and take the plunge. My husband is coming close to his 20-year mark in the Army and has submitted his retirement papers, so the future is uncertain right now, but we didn't want to put off our dream of an RV any longer. If nothing else, we'll just go to the nearby military CGs.

Gina

[coupevillefish]

There is a campground at NAS Whidbey. Whidbey Island is a beautiful and historic place to visit and not too far for you.

2004 Georgetown 326DS

[DnL]

We just got home after 3 nights at Howard Miller Steelhead park, and Mike was right - it is a very, very nice park. We live in Silverdale (across Puget Sound from Seattle), and got our first RV one year ago this month. So far we have camped in several State Parks around Western WA and for the most part found them to be just fine. We have also been to the Navy park on NAS Whidbey Island mentioned by coupevillefish above and the one at Pacific Beach - liked both of them very much. We have also been to two KOAs (Ellensburg and Bellingham) but were not very impressed.

[Terier]

I would love an update on how things are going with your Cruise Lite.

[Hutch333id]

Originally Posted by ogmonte

We bought our first travel trailer at the end of last year. 2014 26tbud we live in moses lake wa prob about a 3 hour drive. Would like to do camping in western Wa but don't know of any good sites. We have camped in tents the last 10yrs or so around the Lake Roosevelt area.

We are working on our 4th trip for the year.😀

We recently stayed at Pioneer Trail RV resort, Anacortes . Wonderful park and excellent staff.

Great base to go whale watching; orcas, grey whale, minki.


Richard & Diane
2014 Cedar Creek 38FL
With a F350 dually
2014 26 nights and 3120km

[PacNWCampers]

Originally Posted by Terier

I would love an update on how things are going with your Cruise Lite.

I haven't checked in for a bit because we've been doing a bit of camping.

Things have gone really well. We taught ourselves how to do set up and tear down pretty quickly. The only issue we've had so far is that we're unable to light the pilot in the oven. The stove top works perfectly, but the oven's pilot just won't light. So we'll have to get that looked at I guess.

So far, we've camped at the Fort Lewis campground. It was fairly nice. It was still early in the season, so not crowded. After that, we went to Toutle River RV Resort south of Centralia. It's a nice park with good amenities. It's close to Mt. St. Helens, so we got some great photos. We've stayed there twice now. They participate in Tents for Troops program, which means all active duty military stay for free. We've also stayed at the Navy resort at Pacific Beach. So far, it's my favorite spot. It's so scenic there, and they have some great amenities. We don't have our next trip planned yet, but I'd like to get back out to Pacific Beach soon.

Here are some photos I've taken on our recent camping trips:
Pacific Northwest Nature - Gina Gothe-Jackson