Back in Three Forks Montana Steph and I spent some time making more reservations for our trip. She put me in charge of the Olympic Peninsula and I found the Hard Rain Cafe. It was one of the few places in the area that had reviews on Campendium, confirmed Verizon 4G coverage and was centrally located to both the beaches and the Hoh rainforest. And they had room for us. And it was a bargain at $25 per night!! On the phone the lady assured me they had plenty of room for our 38 foot 5th wheel and some Google reviews agreed with that while others said it was super tight quarters and big rigs should avoid. While they took a one night deposit I sort of got the feeling the reservation was only taken in the receptionist’s head or maybe a sticky note at best. I called to confirm the reservation the day before and I could almost hear her searching through a stack of post it notes to find the one with my name on it. I was a little nervous about what the place would be like and being so close to the 4th of July I was worried that there would be no backup options.
As we got closer the roads got twistier and windier and narrower and bumpier but we finally rolled into the dusty parking lot. The cafe was super busy with all the weekenders going to and from the Hoh rainforest. I waited in line with all the food orderers and when it was my turn asked if this was where I checked in. “Sure is,” the woman said, “What’s your name?”. I tell her, “Wach….W-A-C-H”. She goes in the back to look it up (probably in the stack of post its) and after awhile yells out, “could it be under a different name?” Oh man. “Try Huck or Hans” I tell her as beads of nervous sweat pop out of my head. “Oh, I found it here!” Whew!!
She tells me to walk around and pick a spot and come tell her later which one we picked. Steph and I walk around and there isn’t anything super stellar. But there is one on the back loop that looks like the best available. It is a really tight and awkward spot but I think I can maybe get Ava in there. We tried. We failed. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except to continue through the loop there is a super tight turn with LOTS of vegetation on the inside of the turn. As I slowly creeped around the turn I thought we were taking a layer of paint off of Ava. But on the other side we confirm that she came out totally unscathed….thank you soft leafy branches!! We were about to settle on the one and only pull through that was right by the highway when we spotted site 7. I don’t know why we didn’t see it before…maybe we did and it didn’t look as good as it did now after a failed parking attempt. We back right into the spot and set up without any issues.
It was a nice place to stay for several days. The sites are electric and water only and there is no dump station on site but the price is right and it didn’t feel crowded or tight. They have a nice bath house with good water pressure but very limited hot water. The only real downside was that the neighbors were having a huge friends and family ATV get-together. ATVs roared up and down the road at all hours. But compared to our place near Seattle where we were RIGHT next to I-90, this was super pleasant.
Cockpit view
Site 7
Front of cafe
Door sign
Sheba didn't like this guy
Walk in the woods
Moss
Flo, Mo, Bo and others
Joe from Hoh
It's a long wait
Barber shop
Flowers