Car Camping with Brother Gaylon

Car Camping with my brother Gaylon 16-18MARCH
OK, you are correct. I normally don’t do car camping. But, Gaylon was thinking about SAGing a segment of my TransAmerica bicycle ride, and hadn’t camped in years, so wanted a trial run. Besides, it would get me in tune to tent camping. I think I planned too much for the trip, as will be explained below. We decided to do two nights, in a loop around the Olympic Peninsula, somewhat similar to what Jon and I did several years ago on our bicycles. Gaylon had flown over the Olympics when he had a private pilot’s license, but he had never been physically on the ground in the Olympics, so this was a first for him. The first night was at Fort Flagler, a retired military compound, designed to guard entrance of enemies through the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
The fort complex is large, with military type barracks on the hill, and campgrounds below on the beach.
 
The Olympics were clearly seen from the beach, as well as Mt. Rainier when looking in the opposite direction.
 
Signs and exhibits describe the history of this park. Here are shown devices strung across the bay to Port Townsend, designed to stop subs and torpedos.
The next day, we headed off for Port Angeles. As a diversion, we ran up to Hurricane Ridge. The road was clear, and the views were spectacular.
New visitor center on Hurricane Ridge
The High Divide could be seen, with Mt. Olympus in the far distance off to the right of the photo. They had put in a small ski hill to our backs, which was quite busy.
We finally arrived at our planned destination of the Kalaloch Campgrounds.

The tent was just a 100 feet from the stairs down to the beach.
Am Strand. The beach as beautiful as always.
 
Camp kitchen
I created the camp kitchen, expecting to do a bit of cooking. I discovered that Gaylon really doesn’t like to cook, and if he does, uses disposable plates and utensils, so that no dishwashing or other formalities of camp care would be needed. I’ll have to save the car camping stuff for when Betsy and I go out on excursions. Gaylon needs only a single burner stove to heat water for coffee, or for single dish meals with a simple clean-up. So, I way over-packed for doing nothing but boiling water. We did have a lot of time to chat and catch up on various matters. He was inspired to possibly put in some applications to be a campground host, a means of getting himself away from Lake Merwyn for cheap.
All in all, the adventure was a success, Gaylon and I both had a great time, and it was nice spending time with brother Gaylon.