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Salt Creek Recreation Area
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
4 reviews for Salt Creek Recreation Area
4 reviews in English
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Review from Scott B.
Ford, WA
2/7/2012
Very well maintained park and campground. The world war 2 bunkers were cool and the tide pools could keep children occupied for hours.
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Review from Bryan R.
9/7/2010
I spent the most recent Labor Day Weekend here and it was a really nice time.
The park is nestled on a bluff overlooking a great tidepool and kelp forest area at low tide. The area is also home to deer as well as raccoons and crows, as you will find out very quickly if you leave food unattended.
The views from our campsite were pretty amazing--literally the north end of my tent looked out onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We could hear the waves crashing and rolling pebbles as we were falling asleep.
Each site comes with a picnic table, a metal fire ring with grill (you can purchase bundles of firewood for about $5 until 8pm, but you can get them a few bucks cheaper at Safeway or from local stands along the way), and spots where you can park a car and trailer, two cars tightly, or three if you're creative. The park itself has a gate that closes at 10pm, which was nice and a little annoying--it restricts movement, but it's nice that we didn't really have to worry as much about things being stolen from our cars. A security patrols every few hours.
Bathrooms are a short walk--one out on Tongue Point was a pit toilet, and the other--a little further, but not much--has flush toilets and sinks. It's a little more rustic, however, as there is only cold water, and for $.25 there's a single shower that has warm water. It's usually worth it.
It's a nice place to camp or RV; not super private, but people are generally friendly, and it's really easy to get to. -
Review from Geoff N.
Seattle, WA
3/4/2008 8 photos
The Salt Creek Recreation Area is a fantastic location for a day trip away from the city, or a weekend of backache free "cheater" camping (The kind with a car, not necessarily with a mistress...)
Located along the Strait of Juan De Fuca (which means, Juan of Fuca) just east of Port Angeles, Salt Creek boasts fantastic rocky tide pools and sandy beaches alike, camp sites and RV hookups, WWII-era lookout bunkers for exploring, or keeping the pesky Axis forces at bay, and a fantastic view of the Strait across to Vancouver Island. The campground is open year round, making it an excellent choice for the first trip of the year.
On our early March excursion to Salt Creek, we encountered sea anemones, tide pool sculpins, hermit crabs, sea stars, interesting sponges and encrusting critters, giant beds of mussels, a bald eagle, a raccoon and a nuclear submarine being escorted through the strait by four Coast Guard cutters... all in all, it made for quite a time.
During the off-season, you can register your camp site upon arrival, but during the summer months, it is best to reserve in advance. Reservation forms are available on the park's web site. The park gates close at 5pm, so make sure you have your tent before sundown. -
Review from Anne F.
Port Angeles, WA
8/8/2011
Absolutely amazing place. Can't believe I've lived in Port Angeles for months and only just made it out there. The campground is on bluffs overlooking the ocean, with lots of trees. Sites are not super private, but better than many RV/car campgrounds. There are a lot of first-come/first-serve sites, and we did not have trouble getting a site on a Friday in August. Hot shower is available at 2 minutes/quarter. Firewood sold by campground hosts was good quality and a better deal than the wood sold in town. Between the two sets of campground hosts and the frequent patrols by park rangers, this is a secure and well-run camp--which is good or bad depending on what you plan to do. The alcohol ban, however, is pretty universally (but quietly) flouted as far as we could tell, so if your concern is whether you can knock back a few beers by the fire after you put the kids to bed, don't worry about it. A rowdy and/or underage drinking party is probably a different story. There are several stairways down the bluffs to the rocky shoreline. Check the tide tables for low tide and make sure you don't miss the tidepools, which are AMAZING. Like, AMAZING. The seaweed-covered rocks are a little tricky with toddler and dog in tow, but worth it when your kid gets to watch a hermit crab scuttle across his palm and feel an anemone close on his fingertip. Then jump in the car and take a sharp right out of the campground onto Crescent Beach Road. Just up the road there are two parking lots, a pit toilet, and a beach access path owned by the county. Most of the beach is apparently private property and the owner charges $6 a head. I don't know how that works since all beach between the tide lines is owned by the public, right? Anyway. You can avoid the controversy and just crowd onto the county-owned strip of beach with the rest of the hoi polloi. It's a gorgeous beach, with nice sand.
