We first went to the Staircase Rapids trail near Lake Cushman for a hike several years ago, long before we had Nonnie’s Diner or any firm plans to own a travel trailer. It was just an exploratory trip to see what the area was like, and we loved what we saw. We did the walk around the rapids inside the national park, but didn’t have any interest in the campsite.

Now that we’re back from our summer long adventure in Africa, I wanted to get in one camping trip before the weather turned cold. A little later than this in 2020 we were camping out on the Hoh and the weather was fabulous, so we were hoping for more of the same.

We did a recon trip in the car on Wednesday to see how the campsite looked. At 1:00 there were two open campsites on the river, and another probably 20 or so that our trailer would fit in. The campground was nearly empty, so we were hopeful we would find a spot the next week. All the other campgrounds in the south Hood Canal area were closing for the winter on Monday, and there are no reservations at Staircase, so we had to take a chance we’d find space.

Sunday morning we packed up and left before 10am, hoping to get there right around checkout time. As we drove into the park, the ranger told us we would have our pick of sites, and we totally scored the best one in the entire campground. A young man was sitting at the picnic table heating coffee on a single burner, with his Prius from Gig Car Share behind him. Obviously he was not camping, just stopping for a cuppa joe. So I asked him if he was staying overnight and he said no and offered to move his car so we could get our trailer into the site and claim it for ours. He had an appointment in Bremerton for a covid booster, and thought this would be a great stop on the way there (might be a little out of the way, but hey who am I to judge when I think Alaska is on the way to Mexico from Seattle in a sailboat).

The weather was fabulous and we loved our spot on the river. We did get our bikes out and were disappointed that there really wasn’t anywhere close by to ride, so that just became a picnic out at Lake Cushman. We did have some rain one day so we went for a drive down to Shelton. On the way back we drove up into the Skokomish Valley, and oh my gosh it is beautiful. I totally could settle in there, looking at the beautiful view of the south end of the Olympics. I need to go back in winter and see how amazing it looks with snow.

Our one attempt to go for a nice hike ended up being on the wrong trail, so we’re going to have to go back up and take the walk that we missed this trip. But really, this is such a gorgeous campsite, there will surely be more camp trips. We’re loving how we’re settling in using this travel trailer. We don’t try and compete for spots in the craziness of the crowded summer. We have some springtime trips, late fall trips, and maybe some winter warmups down south. There’ll be a big trip to Alaska in the next summer or two, but we don’t expect crowds on that trip either. So far, Nonnie’s Diner is giving us all we could hope for.

Here are some pix from the trip: Staircase