Heart O' the Hills Campground

I don't know why this place only has 4 stars, it's one of the most beautiful campgrounds I've ever stayed at. I can see why it might be annoying for larger vehicles to find a good spot, but for us it was really easy to get something that worked. No hookups or water at your site, but there's a potable water spigot near the parking spots up the road. It's gorgeous when it rains, you feel like you're in another world. We loved our time here and will definitely be back the next time we go to Olympic.

All A thru E loops were open. First come first serve, self pay kiosk in C loop. $10, because we have the access pass, otherwise $20/night. Recommend getting there early, by 1pm or so to get a site. Sites are tight and small. Hilly, not many level sites. Gravel, fire ring and picnic table at site. NO hookups. Fire ban was in effect when we were here. Restrooms were clean. No showers.
Our 15 teardrop was good to go, only saw a couple large RVs able to find sites. Some noisy tent campers, and no rangers or camp host on site.

This is a lovely treed campground with lots of sites. They are fairly close together but most campers were quiet so not a problem. Seems mostly set up for tent camping but we were able to park our van and sleep in it with just a little leveling. Loops A, C and E look nicest. Clean bathrooms. Very easy drive up to Hurricane Ridge. Nice 2 mile hike from loop E through beautiful old growth.

We stayed in several spots on the Olympic peninsula and this was by far the best! The rangers are very friendly and helpful. We went to an excellent presentation by ranger Chelsie on this forest and how to enjoy it with all our senses. The kids all completed the Junior Ranger booklet in two nights of homeschooling. The drive up to the top of Hurricane ridge is a must and just a short trip from the camp site (Go early in the morning—no crowds). The town of Port Angeles is quaint and has good health-food stores. There was just enough sun on our solar panels. There is free and easily accessible potable water (not in each site though). We even stayed on Labor Day weekend and were able to find a great spot. What a gem!

By far the best thing to do—and we will make a Youtube video about this—is to take the gnarly predawn hike up Mount Angeles on the Switchback trail to Klahhane Ridge Trail. The sunrise can be epic and the views are unmatched. Be sure to fill your water bottle from the spring at the trail head! This is 1.6 miles with a 1500 foot elevation gain. Only the strongest kids and no whiners. Because it was predawn I carried bear spray and made noise while completing the ascent. There are four photos with captions related to this hike.

Why do I think the bulldozer driver who created the camp had a preference for tents over RVs?

First night on site 92 - flat, pull through with door opening onto the road. 93 opposite would have worked better for the door but had a distinct sideways slope.

Second night site 60 - a back in site with door facing the picnic area. A couple of blocks under wheels on one side.

Most sites are on the smaller size and many slope backwards, forwards or sideways. And sometimes all 3. We're 28 feet and did have some choices around noon.

The demented bulldozer driver aside it is a very nice, quiet, private and peaceful spot.

The road up to Hurricane Ridge was "interesting" in an RV. Good road, it was the thousand foot drop off to the side that had our hearts beating and hands shaking. Other RVs, a bus and a truck went up so it can be done.

We really liked this campground, it was beautiful and not very crowded. Most campers only stay for a day or two, so you have options if you want to change sites.

We stayed in E loop as there were a handful of pull through sites for RV's. It is heavily forested, so we did not pull much solar. We did notice that Loop A got more sun and also had a handful of sites for larger rigs. We would avoid Loop B all together if you are in an RV. As mentioned in the previous review, many of the pull through sites are facing the wrong way for RV's, and our front door opened to the road, which kind of sucked. It was a tight fit in the spot we chose, but we really loved all the private green space we had.

There are ranger talks at the campground and nighttime astrology programs at nearby Hurricane Ridge. The closest dump station was at a 76 Station in Port Angeles.

Download speed 10 Mbps and upload speed 4Mbps (verizon, without a booster)

Most of the sites here are back-in sites that only fit one small to medium-sized vehicles. There are pull-through sites as well, but most are on the wrong side of the road resulting in your door opening to the road. Site 101 (in the E loop) is one of the few pull-through sites on the right side of the road.

We stayed here to visit Hurricane Ridge, and it was very convenient for our visit. We could have stayed longer, but wanted to move along and see other places in the park.

We pulled 2-3 bars of Verizon 4G LTE with the booster.
We pulled 4 bars of Tmobile voice service, but very spotty Edge coverage.