Dungeness Recreation Area

AMAZING and must see. Hike out the spit.

Spent two lovely nights here at the Dungeness Recreation Area. It's a great campground with plenty of trees and shade, though a few spots are open with lots of sun, if you prefer that. Sites are comfortable and reasonably spacious.

No hookups of any kind, so you are boondocking here, but the location is everything. Potable water is available on the way in, and there's a dump station on the way out.

Bathrooms and showers are nice and clean and everything works. Nice hot showers are $0.25 for 2 minutes, so bring quarters.

We had a wonderful time here. Campground is within easy walking distance of Dungeness Spit wildlife preserve. If you wish, you can walk the 5.5 miles out the spit to the light house and back. Just check the tide tables before you go and plan to walk out / back at lower tides to avoid any drama. There's lots to see and do in the area, and this is a fantastic base from which to operate.

We stayed in a 35' Class A with a Jeep Cherokee and there were a lot of spaces that would accommodate us and bigger rigs. Roads inside the park are a little tight, but we didn't brush a single tree getting through. Site 51 would be perfect for those with solar and/or satellite as it is wide open overhead. All sites have good separation and lots of natural trees and foliage. Expected bugs but had very few.

The bluff trail runs right behind that row of sites so you do hear some people noise, but the tradeoff is watching the sunsets from your dining room. Very clean shower and restrooms, good size playground for the kids.

Loop 1 is first-come, first serve and was less than half full for our entire stay. Loop 2 is 90% reservable and was about 60% full. The Clallum County Park reservation system is great and they are wonderful about responding to emails and helping find the best spot for your set up.

Access off Hwy 101 is easy off either Carlborg or Kichen-Dick. Signage is decent. GPS was accurate to the gate. Easy dump station on the way out.

Nice hiking and many see whales from the bluff. Lots to do on the OP, so book as much time as you can!

We arrived at the park in early afternoon and checked the board at the unmanned office where reservations were listed, our reserved site #55 was listed as open. Uh oh. We drove to our site and found that it was occupied by a tent and easy-up. We called the campground number and reached the ranger and told him our problem. He said he would meet us back at the office, so we drove back to the office. He asked us to produce our printed reservation, which we did, then he said the problem was that their reservation software didn't work properly and the night ranger thought the site was unoccupied so he let another party move to our site. He also said that he was not going to ask them to move, we could find another spot for the night. What? We told him we needed a long, level site so that we didn't need to unhook for the night, he wrote down some sites to check. He was rather cavalier about the situation, which we didn't appreciate. We ultimately found an available site that we could fit into (there weren't many), so we parked and went for a hike.
We had a note on our door when we returned that said the people on our site had decided to leave so we could move to it. What? So we moved to site 55 which was a nice site, it had a long driveway and two large open areas and we could see the sunset out our back window.
We enjoyed our stay at the park, we used this base to explore the northern areas of Olympic National Park and we went out to the extreme northwestern point on the peninsula on the Makah Indian reservation. We also hiked out to the New Dungeness Lighthouse on the spit. The towns of Sequim and Port Angeles nearby were convenient for supplies. We ate some great Dungeness crabs while camping. With boosting, we had good ATT 4G for internet access. The park was busy while we were there, the restrooms were clean and there was a coin-operated shower at each restroom.

This is a great location, the campground is on a bluff, and although you can't see the water you are just a few steps away from it.

Loop 1 is First Come First Served. Loop 2 is reservable. We found it easy to get a spot in loop 1 during the week. All sites are dry, there are no hook-ups here. Sites are mostly shaded, with a couple of more open sites. We had to leave a day early as we couldn't charge our solar panels due to lack of sunshine and shade from trees.

There is a limited trail system in the park and the park is adjacent to the Wildlife Refuge and the entrance to the Dungeness Spit. The walk along the spit is over 5 miles and is tough going as you are walking on sand, but the lighthouse at the end is worth it, and the driftwood on the beach is beautiful. Look at the tide tables before you go, it is especially tough going at high tide.

The surrounding area is pretty and has good facilities, there is a U-Pick Farm nearby, great fruit stands and the Sunny Farms grocery store. The Olympic National Park is close too, we didn't make it because of the rainy weather when we were there.

There are restrooms, showers and a dump station on site.

Sequim is a beautiful area, I'd come back just for the town and to kick around the coast.

We pull a 40 ft. toy hauler. Although they don't say you can't there are really only like 4 spots that would fit our trailer. We had a professional tractor trailer guy guide us in, even then the roads are not wide enough for much manuevering, so we were brushing our brand new truck up against the bushes to get our trailer backed in. We also had the bushes right outside our door with not much of a patio or passage on either side with our slides out. We made the best of the situation and really enjoyed the area including the wildlife refuge and the lavender farms nearby.

Fires are allowed in fire rings, the showers are cheap and warm. Fresh water is available at a spigot near the bathrooms. I'd recommend probably 30ft or less to camp here. Class A folks beware, but also look for pull throughs - there are a couple.

Most of all we had some great neighbors to share a campfire with and let our kids play with, that made the experience for us, although that is always just what live deals and a gamble in some situations.

Also be ready to run your generator and come in with plenty of water. We totally forgot to plan ahead making this a great learning experience for us.

The spots are in heavily wooded area, so it feels very private. Some are next to the bluffs, so you are just steps from an ocean view. Get one of those spots if you can. Either way, you are a short hike down a steep hill (on a paved path) to the beach. Once down to the beach, if you are ambitious you can take the 5 1/2 mile hike (each way) out to the lighthouse, and you can go up into the top of the lighthouse. The views all along the beach are amazing, with sandy bluffs, the straight, and distant snow-capped mountains.

The campground is quiet and well-kept. There are no hookups, but there is a dump station.

Loop A is a first-come-first-serve. Loop B is reservable. Site 12 is large and had a lot of sun for our solar panel. Close to viewpoint just behind us. On a weekend it was busy and
somewhat noisy. We did have the entrance of the trail next to us. Weekdays were quiet. We hiked down to the Dungeness spit. Cost was $3 or free with national parks pass. Close to Sequim. Great market close by, Sunnyside Farms.
Stayed June 17-June 29, 2018.

Clean but tight sites with enough shrub & tree buffer for some privacy. Good customer service. Great sunset views from bluff across straight of Juan de Fuca toward Vancouver Island. Nice walk to water & spit toward lighthouse but since it is a wildlife refuge, no dogs on trails. Deer abound.

The pros:
• Great showers(!), .25 cents gets you 2 min. of hot water w/ good pressure from a real shower head.
• semi-private spots with enough greenery between to give you a sense of privacy
• quiet enough to hear the waves at night
• super friendly staff and Park Ranger
• very clean & lovely grounds

The cons:
• CASH or CHECK only. No credit card reader to pay for site
• NO DOGS allowed on Dungeness Spit because it’s a wildlife refuge
• tons of aggressive bugs, mosquitos, bees, and wasps - too much for us and we cut our stay a night early because we couldn’t sit outside and enjoy the campsite (yes, we covered ourselves in big repellent “Jungle Juice” and some kind of homeopathic stuff... but that only seemed to draw them to us!)
• not near anything, so be sure to pack in everything you might need