Straight of Juan de Fuca

December 15-17, 2025

As we head west on Hwy 101, going counterclockwise on the Olympic peninsula's ring road, keeping the Straight of Juan de Fuca to our right side, we pass several towns: Port Townsend, Sequim, Port Angeles. The Olympic National Park Visitor Center in close to Port Angeles, inland toward the mountains, and we had the idea to try to camp at Heart O' the Hills campground. Unbeknownst to us though, the National Park Service had just closed all its campgrounds and most of the roads into the mountains. The same wind storm that battered us the night before would be the advent of an atmospheric river. I was not prepared for how much rain could fall from the skies in a week. It's not the torrential, short-lived rain storms of my childhood in New Orleans. It's not the constant mist and drizzle of rainy Seattle. It's days upon days of steady pitter-patter of rain without break, and everything is drenched and wet and gray and cold.

On the recommendation of friends, we found ourselves at Salt Creek Recreation Area on the bluffs of the Straight of Juan de Fuca. We occupied campsite #37 in the middle of a large clearing of trees. After the wind gales of the night before, we had learned to avoid sea-edge camping, as well as any trees that might drop branches or even topple over in high winds. Being the only campers in the park, we had the pick of 92 campsites. About 40 of these sites are nestled into an old growth forest on Tongue Point. I suspect this place is very popular in the summer, when things are less wet and wind swept. At low tides, Salt Creek reputedly has some of the best intertidal zones for tide pool exploration. And there are neat WWII-era bunkers along the bluffs. We hunkered down in the rig though, thankful for the cozy shelter from the winds and rain. I tell you what, there is no better view while playing Baldur's Gate 3 than from campsite #37 at Salt Creek on the bluffs over the Salish Sea.

We woke the next day to wind advisories for the next 24 hours forecasting strong winds of 30-40mph, with gusts upward of 60mph. While Salt Creek is delightful, we decided that the better part of wisdom would be to head away from the sea and closer to civilization. The Elhwa River Dam RV Park is a compact, friendly little park on the Elhwa River. There used to be a dam here, built in the early 1900s during the heydey of economic growth and development of the Olympic peninsula. The dam had some terrible impacts on the salmon and river habitat, while outliving its utility for power production. So in 2011-2014, it was removed block by block, allowing for the gradual return of the river and its sediment to their natural course. Whether the flora and fauna of the river will recover remains to be seen. I have a feeling Nature is far more resilient than this blip of human interference and subsequent withdrawal.

Speaking of human interference and withdrawal, the presence of a military bunker on an otherwise natural bluff was a matter of curiosity. While the rain pitter-pattered all evening, I read about the fortification of the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The Straight is a 96-mile channel connecting the Salish Sea and Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean. From the very beginning (of Western intervention anyway), control of sea access involved building defensive systems at strategic points along the Straight. Eventually by the end of the 19th century, there was a "Triangle of Fire" at the gateway to the Sound, with large gun batteries at Fort Worden (Port Townsend), Fort Flagler (Marrowstone Island just off the coast of the Olympic peninsula), and Fort Casey (Whidby Island). Land invasion was a real concern during World War II, and these bunkers were built to house advanced artillery, radar, and other instruments of coastal defense. It took a moment for me to realize the immense privilege of living in a time of peace, when military bunkers are disappearing behind fir and hemlock, the memories of war have faded, and old forts have found new life as state parks and campgrounds offering unobstructed views of the sea.