Westport, Washington, Clam Digging Trip

More Details and Photos to Follow.

Our rental home was near Westport.

Nice weather. Beachcombing. Dog walking. Mushroom hunting.

Brady's Oyster Shack for oysters and fish.
Grundson Fishing store near Westport docks.
Hot Coffees
Fireplace chats
TV indoors

Fancy high-qulity Chef's meals

Clam Digging at 4:30 pm

Yurt Camping and Travel Preparations

I will be Yurt Camping at Dosewallips State Park on the Hood Canal near the village of Brinnon, Washington.  I will arrive Monday, May 6th and leave for home on May 9th, 2024.  I will be exploring the area from Shelton to Port Townsend, mostly on 101 along the west side of the Hood Canal.  

I will be yurt camping at Grayland Beach State Park, near Westport, Washington, from June 3rd to June 6.  Karen and I will also be staying at resorts in Shelton, Port Townsend, and Forks in 2024. We stayed in Port Angeles, Bemerton, Lake Quinault, and Ocean Shores in 2023.  Karen and I drove south from Port Townsend to Olympia down 101 via the Hood Canal in 2019 and in 2010.  We have been exploring along Highway 101 (The Olympic Highwaay) from Ilwaco to Olympia, Washington. Basically, we have been exploring the Olympic Peninsula, Olympic National Park, and the Olympic National Forest.  

I will focus on local travel in four days along the Hood Canal from Shelton to Port Townsend.

Vancouver WA  110 miles north to Olympia

Olympia WA  23 miles north to Shelton

Shelton WA  41 miles north to Brinnon

Shelton WA  - Images

Shelton WA  - Information

Hood Canal, Fjord, WA

Lake Cushman, WA

Skokomish Twana Native Americans

Skokomish River, WA, Images

Potlach State Park

Hoodsport WA

Liliwalup

Hamma Hamma

Duckabuch

Brinnon WA

Dosewallips State Park WA  39 miles north to Port Townsend

Dosewallips SP Images  13 miles north to Quilcene

Dosewallips SP Campground

Dosewallips River Images

Dosewallips Oyster and Clam Harvesting

Quilcene

Dabob Bay

Port Townsend  215 miles south to Vancouver

Four Days at Grayland: Extensive Travel Guides, Yurt Camping notes, local cities and villages, reports, commentary, Yurt Camping Information, Native American Information.  Yurt camping on the coast in Oregon and Washington.  

Tai Chi Chuan at the Beach: Please join Michael P. Garofalo for a Taijiquan Meetup/Gathering/Retreat at Dosewallips State Park, 7 am, Yurt C.  I hang a kite on my Yurt that is shaped like a Salmon Fish.  Campfire chats and a little practice sharing.

The best book I used to study general travel options for the Hood Canal
for my trip in May 2024 was:
Olympic Peninsula with Olympic National Park. By Jeff Burlingame.
Moon, 5th Edition, 2024.

Planning and Preparation:

I have been busy identifying and reorganing my camping, recreation, hiking, fishing, and travel equipment.  I updated and purchased new gear for our home back porch improvements, fishing, walking, sighseeing, yurt camping, travel and recreation. I updated my 10 year old Keen boots for high top Danner boots and lightweight Merrill treking boots..  I organized all my outdoor clothing.  Updated my medical bag.  Purchased a small MP3 player.  Purchased many guide and history books for my Olympic Peninsula travels.  Car care, maintainence, and new battery. Getting reading for more Springtime and Summer travel, yurt camping, hiking, fishing, walking, writing.  I am ready for walking in the rain; and updated my Kelty backpack and sling pack, and all necessary rain gear.

 

Four Days in Grayland  Camping at the Beach, Northwest Coastal Travels

Yurt Camping in the Coastal Pacific Northwest by Michael P. Garofalo.

Hunting for Mushrooms and Raxor Clams

 We enjoyed a beautiful clear day of camping at Twin Harbors State Park.   November 14, 2023

We went walking in search of mushrooms in the Park.

We ate Dungeness crab, Kumamoto oysters, Little Neck clams, homemade squash soup, fresh bread, and wine. Shopped at the fish market at Brady's Oysters.

Went razor clam digging at Grayland Beach Road. Caught 49 clams after 5 pm at low tide.

For many photographs and more information go to: Four Days in Grayland by Michael P. Garofalo.

Feathered Friends, Shell-Fish, and Epidemics

"The feathered tribe are numerous, and during the season flock hither in clouds: white and black swans, white geese, Canada geese, brant, sheldrake, cormorants, loon, mallard, ducks, red-head, gray and canvas back ducks, teal, curlew, snipe, plover, pheasant, quail, pigeons, crows, and robins. During the summer months pelicans are plenty, and go sailing round in the heavy, lazy flight, occasionally dashing down into the water in the most clumsy manner to catch a fish, and at all times an easy prey and an acceptable banquet to the Indians, who swallow their coarse, fishy, oily flesh with the greatest avidity. Innumerable flocks of gulls of various species are constantly to be seen, and at times, when attracted by any quantities of food, appear like clouds. These birds, also, are readily eaten by the Indians, who never are at a loss to find means to appease their appetite."

- James Gilcrest Swan, 1852, Willapa (Shoalwater) Bay, Southwestern Washington, from his book "The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Year's in Residence in Washington Territory, 1957."

Willapa Bay  A Hyper-text Notebook by Mike Garofalo

Brown Pelicans

In 2022, I will be Yurt camping at Grayland Beach State Park twice and Pacific Beach State Park once during the spring bird migration fly-by. Millions of birds rest and eat in the shallow bays, wetlands, marshes, sloughs, sandy islands, and rivers in Grays Harbor Bay and Willapa Bay.  Looking forward to visiting Bottle Beach and other bird watching locations.  



A Birder's Guide to Coastal Washington. By Bob Morse, 2001. Featuring Ocean Shores, Long Beach Peninsula, Forks, Westport, Tokeland, and 160 Birding Hot Spots. Detailed coverage of birding locations near Westport and how to get there. Excellent resource!  RWMorse, 2001, 270 pages, ring-bound. VSCL. FVRL.  First Choice!!

Coastal Washington Shorebirds and Waterbirds. By Ruth McCausland. 116 pages.

Birds of Washington Field Guide. By Stan Tekiela. Adventure Pubs., 2001, 332 pages.

American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of Washington. By Dennis Paulson and Brian Small. Scott and Nix, 2020, 368 pages.

Birds of the Pacific Northwest. By John Shewey and Tim Blount. Timber, 2017, 560 pages.

Birds of Washington State. By Brian Bell and Gregory Kennedy. Partners, 2017, 284 pages.




"The shoals are covered with shell-fish, among which the oyster is the most abundant, and constitutes the primary article of export. Several species of clams, crabs of the largest size, and of a most delicious flavor, shrimps, mussels, and a small species of sand-lobster, are in the greatest abundance, and furnish nutritious food, not only to the different tribes of Indians who resort to the bay at different seasons to procure supplies, but also the white settler, who is this enabled to greatly reduce the expenses of living when compared with those settlements on the Columbia River and interior where provision of all kinds are usually scarce and high."
- James Gilcrest Swan, 1852, Willapa (Shoalwater) Bay, Southwestern Washington

Fort Vancouver (1824-1845) and Portland (1845-) were the settlements inland on the Columbia River.  

By 1851, epidemics of disease (1795-1845) had decimated the Chinook and Chelais Indian tribes on the Shoalwater (Willapa) Bay coastal area. In 1856, for example, a large tribe of Chelais Indians were camping in Westport and digging clams. A smallpox epidemic erupted and killed hundreds of Chelais Indians of all ages, and the Indians never returned to Westport.

In 2022, tens of thousands of people go to dig razor clams on fixed approved days on the sandy beaches of Twin Harbors and the Long Beach Peninsula.  My son and his wife are expert razor clam diggers.  And, we all have been challenged by our own COVID flu pandemic in America the past three years.  

Most of us enjoy finding ways and means to appease our appetites, despite any obstacles.  

Willapa Bay 

Grayland Beach

Four Days in Grayland

Travel Notebooks by Mike Garofalo