43 Places Entry of the Day

0 people want to go to Belfair State Park

"Disappointment", an entry by Carrick Mundell:

“A stunner. Among the best. Bring lots of film and site-finding patience.” I don’t know what Ron Judd was smoking when he wrote this about Belfair State Park in his book Camping! Washington but it must have been pretty mind-altering. My family and I just returned from spending two nights in Belfair S.P. and I’m here to tell you it is a dump. The sites for tents and small R.V.s are tiny, packed together, and poorly engineered. Drainage would have been a real problem had it rained. Sunlight had a difficult time piercing the thick canopy of firs and pines. And anything that was left out under the trees was covered with dust and tree debris within a few hours.

Oh, and there’s a highway within spitting distance. With logging trucks going back and forth day and night. Hello Mr. Judd?!

It is steps away from Hood Canal and a “beach” of sorts. Too bad the water literally disappears at low tide. Belfair S.P. is at the crook of Hood Canal and, apparently, experiences extreme tides. So much for spontaneous dips in the water.

I will try to refrain from being too judgmental of our neighbors, some of whom looked to be making a summer of it on their little patches of the forest floor. I’m sure they were all decent, well-meaning, hard-working folks who were just having a good time letting down. Even the ones who left their four children unattended while the camp fire smoldered, blue tarps hanging from tree to tree, garbage strewn about like pine cones. And the guy who let his diesel pickup run for an hour while we ate our dinner? I’m sure he was a real nice guy. And the guy who cussed at his five-year-old boy, who’s face was covered in mud, when he found him playing in the creek? He was probably just a little tired and not at all drunk.

Yeah, if you ever hear yourself saying, “Let’s just pull into Belfair S.P. for the night,” give yourself a dope-slap and keep on trucking down Highway 106 to Twanoh, or even further around Hood Canal to Lake Cushman.