Boondocking Our Way to Rainier
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After feeling like we had covered what we wanted to see in Olympic, we left a day earlier than planned and headed toward Mount Rainier by way of Chinook Pass Highway. The problem was, I had never managed to secure campground reservations for our time there, so as soon as we arrived, the real mission became finding somewhere to park for the night. On the way in, we were greeted by elk along the road, our first since Yellowstone, so of course we made a quick U-turn for photos before getting back to the task at hand.
Elk off Chinook Pass Hwy
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Finding a place to stay turned into its own little adventure. One road, immediately after we turned in, took a steep winding climb that did not feel like a smart gamble with the camper in tow. Danny dropped the trailer near the highway and went to scout it without the camper, but it quickly became clear that road was not a good option for us.
We hooked back up and continued on to Forest Road 7300, which looked more promising at first with its long, straight stretch. The problem was that there was nowhere to turn around. Danny spotted a pull-off that looked like it could work, but if he pulled in the easy way, he would have been facing the wrong direction, which was not exactly ideal if we needed to leave in a hurry. So instead, he backed the camper down the road about a quarter of a mile, got himself positioned near the highway, and then backed it all the way into the pull-off.
It was not an official campsite, and we knew that, but it was getting late and we needed somewhere to spend the night. So that little roadside pull-off became home for the evening, one improvised stop closer to Rainier.
We hooked back up and continued on to Forest Road 7300, which looked more promising at first with its long, straight stretch. The problem was that there was nowhere to turn around. Danny spotted a pull-off that looked like it could work, but if he pulled in the easy way, he would have been facing the wrong direction, which was not exactly ideal if we needed to leave in a hurry. So instead, he backed the camper down the road about a quarter of a mile, got himself positioned near the highway, and then backed it all the way into the pull-off.
It was not an official campsite, and we knew that, but it was getting late and we needed somewhere to spend the night. So that little roadside pull-off became home for the evening, one improvised stop closer to Rainier.