Traveling in Olympic National Park

[tommythedon]

We will be heading up to Olympic National Park within the next 7-10 days and hope to get a spot at the Salt Creek Rec Area near Port Angeles.  We are traveling in a 40" Tuscany with a Jeep Wrangler.   I understand that traveling through the park is not an option with the coach but hope to tour the perimeter on hwy 101.   Any info on whether this is advisable is appreciated.   I'm not sure but expect to do this in a counter-clockwise manner if passable. 

Thanks for any and all suggestions.   Tom K 

[tbutler]

We did exactly what you are planning to do.  Roads within the park are not generally accessible for large vehicles.  You will be much happier parking the coach in RV Parks and taking day trips out into the park from a variety of locations.  We found this to be a wonderful area to explore.  I did a series of blogs here on the FMCA website on our trip starting with this, the first in the series if you are interested in reading about our trip.

[wildebill308]

Tom is absolutely right. I have ben in 9 National parks this summer and You will have a much better experience not trying to drive your coach into any park. The only place where I thought you might be able to do it was at the Painted Desert, but don't be surprised when all the parking is full at any given stop. The only place I have stayed in a National park was at Trailer village at the Grand Canyon. 

Bill 

[desertdeals69]

We've stayed a Watchmans in Zion and the national campground at the Grand Canyon.

[wildebill308]

32 minutes ago, desertdeals690 said:

We've stayed a Watchmans in Zion and the national campground at the Grand Canyon.

With both of those campgrounds you need to start trying to get reservations a long time in advance. Now you can't drive your POV into the canyon at Zion, you have to use the shuttle busses. The same at the Grand Canyon you can't drive your POV west past the El Tovar hotel. The busses are great and run about every 15 min.

Bill 

[tommythedon]

Thanks all for your responses.   Does anyone have specific info regarding size restrictions on the 101 from Port Angeles over towards Aberdeen?

[obedb]

It is marked for 18 wheelers that way in the Motor Carrier's Atlas.

[tommythedon]

Thanks Obedb,

We will give it a shot heading west out out Port Angeles.

Tom

[wildebill308]

Some people confuse the 101 and state highway 1. I don't recommend taking your coach on the 1. 

Bill

[wayne77590]

12 hours ago, Tommythedon said:

Thanks all for your responses.   Does anyone have specific info regarding size restrictions on the 101 from Port Angeles over towards Aberdeen?

We just finished the 101 from LA to Fort Lewis, WA. We did not go up around to Port Angeles but instead cut across 12 and 8.  There were no restrictions on the 101. I don't think you will find any the direction that you mentioned, however, you can call the highway patrol non emergency number and they will give you information. I did that for one highway I was going to go on and they helped me decide.

With that said there were parts of the 101 that were twisty-turney and up-and-down but doable. We were in a 40' MH towing the Lincoln MKX.  Just remember to use the turnouts and other areas of the highway to pull over and let traffic pass. There were times we got a thank you honk (I think that was what it was) and a wave through a roof top opening (not a finger wave)