Blast Shelter: March 2009

This post is a simple informational tour of the Blast Shelter.

The Blast Shelter is a 1973 Westwind travel trailer. Its 13" long plus the tounge, the small size is exactly what I was looking for when I found it. I needed something I could park in the driveway since it hopefully gets used often I didn't want to have to deal with a storage place. I also wanted something that could fit into most any camp spot I found since many campgrounds in Western Washington have small spots (this is due them clearing as few trees as necessary to minimize the impact of the campgrounds) larger RV spots can be hard to come by. This trailer is also a mini-toy hauler so it has 12'x4' of open floor space (makes it nice when I'm trying to put on my rafting gear!) with a rear ramp and cargo tie downs.

I found the trailer on Craigslist in Oregon for $650. Two days and one road trip later it was in the driveway for $500!
Once I got it I began the work in it to better fit my needs.
1: I repaired some bad wood inside and made sure there were no leaks.
2: A fresh coat of spray-on bed liner and a groovy silver racing stripe came next.
3: Followed by a fresh rubber-ish coating on the roof.
4: Back inside I ripped out and replaced the carpet.
5: Added some new shelves, and storage organizers, and got the ice box set up as a nice little liquor cabinet (seriously, what else could you use if for?)
6: Hung some new homemade blackout curtains
7: A big one here - installed a forced air propane furnace with an automatic thermostat - not much fun but well worth the effort!
8. welded a new propane tank bracket on the front then added a cargo carrier to the tounge
9. Changed out several lights (for safety of course!)
10. New 14" wheels and tires for better/safer towing.

There will be more to come as I find other needs and ideas and get the time to do it!
Here are some before, during, and after pics:

So the Diane, Lily and myself headed to the Olympic National Park for a nice long week of GET-THE-HECK-OUTTA-TOWN in the BLAST SHELTER! So we drop Maggie (the dog) and Grandma's house since she's not allowed on the trails or beaches in the NP. With little to no plan on what we are doing or where we are staying except the first night we load the BLAST SHELTER and head west.

From Seattle he drive is only about 2.5 hours and 45 minutes of that is on the ferry (of course 30 minutes in the ferry line). After stopping at Cape Flattery near Neah Bay (most northwest point on the continental US)

We stayed the first two nights at the Lost Resort at Lake Ozette out near the ocean beaches. This was nice because they have showers, a store & café, free WiFi and surprisingly good espresso!

While at this stop we hiked the 9.2 mile Cape Alava / Sand Point beaches hike wow this was

really a great hike even in the fog (which I love!). It made for some great pics at low tide. Aside

from that I just hung around camp and enjoyed the fire and the Crown Royal.

Day 3: we headed south to Forks, Wa to the Hoh Rainforest area. Once there we had no trouble finding a great spot, set up camp, then hiked two of the trails that extend from the visitors center where we saw several deer with young and elk. The weather that night got pretty nasty with well over several inches of rain but we were very warm and dry.

Day 4: We

headed back up through Forks and out to Sol Duc hot springs resort – this place was fun. Again we had no issues locating a great spot mid-week. Once we set up camp we hiked out to Sol Duc Falls and had a lunch on a big rock next to the river above the falls then came my favorite part of many camping trips NAP TIME! The resort itself was nice with hot showers! three giant hot tubs, one 100+ degree swimming pool made it REALLY easy to relax here. After hanging out in the pool with the little one and some hot showers we fed the kiddo then treated ourselves to a great steak dinner at the resort before walking back to camp for a campfire w/ cocktails.

Day 5: We head to Lake Crescent another very pretty place where pictures don’t do the color of the glacier water justice. Again no trouble finding a great site at Fairholme Campground right on the lake. We headed over to the ranger station and went on a short easy hike up to a great little water fall. Then we took the Avalanche for a dirty

drive to the Spruce Railroad trail for another short hike along the old railroad tracks. Then back to lounge by the fire (gotta love that).

Day 6: We decide to head to the mountains this day. So we drive into Port Angeles grab some ice and a couple other things then grab a spot at Heart o’ Hills campground just inside the park. After getting situated there we threw some food and a couple beers in the truck and headed up to Hurricane Ridge for the day. The drive is beautiful in itself but if your up for it the hikes are spectacular! At the top it was sunny and beautiful. After taking a pitstop at the visitors center we did a tailgate lunch then loaded up the little one for a 2.8 mile hike UP Klahhane Ridge. After heading back down the mountain Diane made a great dinner and some yummy grown-up cocoa (if you know what I mean). Then we headed over to the ranger campfire talk hot cocoa in hand. The talk was great with lots of slides and a ton of information about bears, cougars and deer.

Day 7: We break camp and head east back to the big city.

As you can tell we had no problems with the truck or the trailer and no problems finding any campsites anywhere mid-week. I think we are going to head that way again soon. It wasn’t a bad week for less than $450 total - $75 of which was spent on our great steak dinner!

Things learned/advice from this trip:

1. Prepare for rain! (it is the rainforest afterall)

2. Gas was expensive in August of 2008 ($4 + dollars per gallon)

3. All grocery stores sell firewood near the Park

4. We got to the sites early in the day (before noon) and never had an issue with the first-come-first-served system in the park campgrounds.

Misc. touristy pics from the trip: