That’s Daniel Webster Flagler, who was a general in the U.S. Army during the American Civil War. Daniel, who is no longer with us but who got his name on a fort–not a bad deal–was the Army’s Chief of Ordnance. I am not sure but I think that means he was in charge of all the weapons, and some related stuff. Sounds like a big job.
We did not make it over to the Fort part of the park, because of some odd weather and a pall of smoke from fires in British Columbia and the northern Cascade range. I am sorry not to be sharing with you some images of batteries and barracks and whatnot, but it just wasn’t in the cards. However we can show you a pall of smoke:
Here’s the view, such as it was, from the waterfront campsites at Fort Flagler. No, we did not have a waterfront campsite, but we were in the second row. Upon our arrival we were greeted by warm temperatures and thick smoke. That’s Port Townsend over there somewhere.
The lower beach loop at Ft Flagler. Location? Great. Site access? Easy. Pads flat and level? Check. Privacy? Nil.
We are in the habit, for better or worse, of reserving campsites months in advance. We do this to get good campsites, of course, and it works sometimes. This time we reserved only a few weeks in advance, and were lucky to get any kind of site at all. This park is really popular. Coming midweek was our only option.
There was a smoke advisory in effect during our entire stay, so we did not do any strenuous hiking, which of course we rarely do anyway, just sayin’. The dogs, however, are always needing to go for strolls, so there was that.
The sun pierced the smoke a few times, and when a breeze blew up I took the boys to the beach. They adore the beach. So many smells!
One day, though, we tried to do a little hike. We ended up not getting very far, but I can share this.
The Bluff Trail at Fort Flagler runs just a bit inland from, well, a bluff. The trail runs from the lower campgrounds all the way around to various batteries (gun emplacements), barracks, and other fort-ish things, but we had to end our stroll early. I think there could have been some good birding along this trail earlier in the day, except I think the birds had all perished from smoke inhalation. Well, not the crows, of course. Crows are forever.
Have I mentioned we have a new-ish towable trailer? We do. Here is what it looks like under a pall of smoke.
Flat as this campground is, we never got Toto completely level while here. Why? I used my carpenter’s level, Anderson levelers and of course the tongue jack. Got a little too high on the Anderson gadgets, on the curb side. Got the tongue jack a little too low. Hard to adjust stuff after the stabilizers are down and the pop-out is popped out. Note to self: get it level at home and install some bubble levels on the exterior before our next trip.
I am pleased to report that we have acquired some bubble levels and will get them installed as soon as the smoke clears, which is supposed to be tomorrow, but we have heard that before.
So, as I may have previously stated, we camped under a pall of smoke. Despite that, there were scores of pleasant moments during which we strolled on the beach, wrote blog posts, and derived genuine joy from using the black tank cleaning gadget that came with the new Toto. We converted waste into joy. You cannot make that sort of thing up.
Is that fog, or is it smoke? Yes.
I am going to give Fort Flagler State Park 98 stars out of 100, with a two-star deduction for Smoke Pall.
You may recall that we have a couple of Cairn terriers, who generally run things around our house and any campsite we encounter. I leave you, for the moment, with Tyler’s lasting impression of Fort Flagler; this is where and how he spent most of his time there.
Tyler’s preferred wilderness camping pursuit.
We are going back, we think, next summer–maybe a little earlier in the summer, before the smoke palls build up.
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