This summer, we decided to return to the Washington State Hood Canal areas and explore some of the northern areas to see if the experience would be any different.

Of course, I went running, but you really need to go VERY early AND you should find some of the hilly roads as your path as the sides of the road are EXTREMELY narrow and not too safe with the traffic.

We wanted to try and plant some crab traps this time, but the crabs were far too out for kayaks, so we had to stick to oysters.

I should say there are LOTS of crabs, they are just very small close to shore.

Yes, you can see a little bit of the wildfire smoke haze, but the water and fresh made it feel so delightful.

When it is low tide, the oysters are everywhere!

You do not really need to search every hard for them…just make sure you have a license and follow the limits!

The water was actually quite nice and not too cold. The oysters can be quite large and sharp edges, so be careful. The morning is so delightful as the water is so calm and quiet.

One thing I learned is there is a HUGE population of Elk in the Brinnon area. They sometimes take over the state parks and kick all the people out 🙂

I was surprised and delighted on how many campgrounds, hiking trails and the number of waterfalls that can be in the region.

We did find that some property owners with public access right of ways were not too happy with people hiking to these great sites, Many of the great locations have no signs or the signs are removed, so you have to plan and look at your GPS data closely to find them.

When you hike and visit during the week, you can basically have the location to yourselves compared to the weekends 🙂

Within a 30-45 minuet radius, there are 5+ trails with potential falls

Some are very close and some very far from the trailheads.

Although the trailheads are very accessible, the paths can be slippery, many rocks and tricky climbs.

The effort is worth it and hiking poles are highly recommended for these trails.

The restaurant options are a little limited in availability, options and environment. It is also important to remember in a small town, they do not have capacity to match a larger than normal demand or visitors that do not normally visit.

Some places are different than others…I will leave it at that!

Oh yes, one final note – it seems that almost all stores and restaurants offer military and veteran discounts in this area. Score!

And in case you missed it, here was our posting and exploration of the southern part of the Hood Canal last year.