Salt Creek Recreation Area

We discovered this park by accident almost 30 years ago and I was happy to find that it is still a great place to camp. Close to Port Angeles and the Olympic National Park Visitor Center, it is located on the banks of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. The sites that have water views are reservable; when we arrived on a Thursday in June, these had all been reserved (although not all were occupied). Many of the non-reservable sites were available. No hookups in the loop but there are three tiers of 39 RV sites that have decent water views. Each of these has an electrical and water hookup and a paved pad but you are stacked up as you would be in a typical RV park. Restrooms are reasonably clean (but no garbage receptacle) and there are showers but there is a fee. If you have a water view site and the weather cooperates, you will enjoy a glorious sunset. There is a playground for children, but the best feature are the tidepools that area accessible at low tide; our girls had a blast exploring these when they were young.

Stayed the second week of March 2019. All the winter maintenance has been done. On this Tuesday night there are only four sites taken, one being the camp host. We are in the area with trees and no utilities. Excellent day view of the Juan de Fuca, and Vancouver Island. Ptich black at night with only the sound of the waves. Heavy cedar smell due to the trees. Clean bathrooms, quarter operated hot showers available.

Receiving decent T-Mobile LTE service from Canada.

Receiving excellent 5 bar AT&T hotspot service.

Good location for proximity to the Port Angeles- Victoria Ferry and the Park itself is lovley. But the RV sites are jammed up right against each other, three rows deep. Lots of children on bicycles and scooters in close proximity mean thst it is pretty noisy. I preferred payong the extra $25 a noght amd staying mext door at the Crescent Beach RV Park. However, at least site 24 was at the end of the row. That helped a bit.

We were pleasantly surprised of how beautiful and clean this campground was. Although our site was long enough to fit our travel trailer and truck, it was pretty close to our neighbors. And by early evening all the sites were occupied. We were told by the camp host that this is a extremely popular park for locals. Even though the park was full, it was very quiet at night...probably due to the no alcohol beverage regulation.
We had plenty to do see and do during our stay without even leaving the park. We walked down to the cool tide pools and beaches at Tongue Point Marine Sanctuary, hiked up toward Striped Peak and explored the remnants of World War II Camp Hayden.
There are 92 campsites here, which include two camp host sites, located on a bluff above the Strait of Juan de Fuca. There are 2 restrooms buildings with fee showers. There is also a dump station.
The campground is divided into two distinct camping areas. Campsites 1 through 49 are on the exposed bluff just as you enter the recreation area. Each row of camp sites are tiered higher than the row below and thus provide wonderful views of the Strait. This section of the campground feature both pull through and back-in sites large enough for big rigs and offer water and electric hook-ups.
Sites 50 through 92 are located in a forested area loop. The sites are smaller, but will accommodate not only tents, but small trailers or truck campers. We noted that the forest sites can be pretty dark during cloudy or rainy days.
We did not turn on our phones as they picked up the Canadian cellular towers, which were a clear shot to Vancouver Island across the strait. However we did notice that we picked up 2 bars from Verizon.

The campground itself is just as you would imagine any State Park. It does the trick, has the amenities, but comes with crowds and tons of restrictions, regulations, and rules. For example, in Washington it is illegal to open or consume any alcoholic beverage, including within the privacy of your own RV. Nevertheless, the park was as expected of any wilderness in the Pacific North West – especially considering we were only a few dozen feet from the Strait of Juan De Fuca – wet, cool, and lots of overgrowth. It made for some nice photos at times, but I could easily grow tires of being cold to the bone all the time. Be sure to take the time to hike to the Bunkers, the beach below, and the tide pools during low tides.

Staying at the Westernmost side of the campground (non-hookups area) you can get a good Verizon signal. In the hookups section there is little to no signal.

However... on the weekend we were leaving the park there was a running competition coming in. For some reason the organizers chose a weekend to host a running competition in a State Park and even planned the running route to go directly through the one and only dump station (and this was somehow OK with the State Park and the runners?). When we went to dump on our way out, we were hassled by the event organizers to move out of their way. The organizers, and especially the State Park Officials, need to use some more common sense here.

There are two distinct places to stay here. There is a "campground" which is wooded and serene, intended for tents and small campers. There is are "RV sites" with concrete pads and 50A+Water hookups, and a stellar view across the strait. The sites are pretty close together, which normally I don't like, but when we were here, it seemed to be one big roving social hour with lots of families and activity going on all weekend.

The kids had plenty of fun exploring in the tide pools, and hiking through the old WW2 fort. There are also DNR trails accessed directly from here which we did not explore.

Port Angeles is 30 minutes away, making it a quick hop if you're yearning for a bit more civilization. This is also an excellent place to overnight before jumping on the ferry to Victoria.

Sites 1-5 are the best hookup sites, as they are a little away from the main area, and a bit more shaded. Plus, they're close to the playground which is good for us. Unfortunately, they are not available for reservations.

Sites 50-51 are the best dry camping sites, especially for motorhomes. You can fit a 36-footer, yet they're completely private and enclosed.
http://websrv7.clallam.net/parks/campsite.php?campground=Salt&siteno=50
http://websrv7.clallam.net/parks/campsite.php?campground=Salt&siteno=51

We are a family of four traveling in a 33-foot motorhome. Here's what we're looking for: A playground, stuff for the kids to do, somewhere to ride my mountain bike, beautiful scenery, fire rings, plenty of separation between us and neighbors, shaded and private sites, easy to get in and get level, electric hookups, water and dump station on site, clean showers, and not terribly expensive.

This park delivered most everything we're looking for, I just wish the reservable sites had more privacy.

There are two sections to this park. The full hook-up section is several tiers of well-spaced sites in a row, each with sweeping views of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca. The dry camping is a couple beautiful loops of private, treed sites, many on a cliff with filtered views of the Strait, where you can here the tides lapping against the cliffs. I would have loved to stay here longer, but had to leave after one night because of the lack of Verizon reception. The number of bars was wildly erratic, from no signal, to 1 bar of 1X to 3 bars of 3G at any given moment. However, even at 3 bars of 3G, hardly anything would load. If I didn't rely on my cell reception to work during the week, I would have loved to stay here longer.

There are some nice scenic trails, tidepools, and an old fort in the park. It's also a good central location to many of the attractions in Olympic National Park.