I'm plannin a trip to Washington next month to explore the state with a couple buddies and would like to hear about points of interest, cool strips, favored places to camp, eating establishments accessable by air,, etc.
Thanks Gary

The San Juan Islands are phenomenal. Both Friday Harbor and Orcas Island. You can camp on the field at Friday Harbor and town is only a five minute walk to sight seeing and a variety of Pac NW dining options.

Copalis Beach is a designated air strip right on the beach on the Washington Coast.

Port Townsend is a great hundred dollar hamburger destination.

Check ahead since the state is only in phase 2 of covid reopening.

And lots of cool mountain destinations, Stehekin, Tieton State, etc. The East is nice too, Don't miss the Alvord in Oregon and Sisters and many others.

Thanks folks. Lookin a little more for specifics, like names rather than than just there are many. But, don't need lots of details, just that they are good/interesting fun spots. Just easier to plan and not wandering back and forth so much, or missing a "good" one.

Poke around on Washington's state managed airports web site. Most were originally built as emergency landing strips to "Make Washington the safest state in which to fly", so are in the mountains. Methow is the North Cascades Smokejumper Base. They love to give tours and it will be well worth your time.

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/aviation/Airports/default.htm

LabLover wrote:The San Juan Islands are phenomenal. Both Friday Harbor and Orcas Island. You can camp on the field at Friday Harbor and town is only a five minute walk to sight seeing and a variety of Pac NW dining options.
Copalis Beach is a designated air strip right on the beach on the Washington Coast.
Port Townsend is a great hundred dollar hamburger destination.
Check ahead since the state is only in phase 2 of covid reopening.

I've never seen anyone camp on the airport at Friday Harbor.
I have camped on the airport at Orcas Island.
Lopez Island has a new-ish campground on the field.
It's a long ways to anything (stores, eateries, etc) at Lopez though.
Copalis Beach is fun, no camping though. Check the tides, lower is better.
You can camp at the more remote state airports:
Stehekin & Skykomish are good, Tieton & Ranger Creek sometimes have (rowdy) non-airplane campers.
Cub Crafters does a lot of their promo photos at Tieton.
Electric City aka Grand Coulee Dam airport is cool, right on Banks Lake.
Port Townsend & Arlington have good eateries on the field.
PT has a cool little vintage Aero Museum,
hopefully it'll be opened back up by the time you're out here.

Thanks again guys. That's the sort of info I'm lookin for.
lookin forward to the trip and exploring a new area.

Where are you coming from? The NE corner of the state is pretty remote, but my favorite airport camping is there. Sullivan Lake (09S) is a great stop on the north edge of a lake with a state campground complete with good water. If you're lucky you can be lulled to sleep by the sound of loons.

Lost River (W12) is a good place to cast a fishing line.

Fly down the Columbia River Gorge and see lots of waterfalls from the air. Make a stop at Hood River's Jernstedt airport (4S2) on the Oregon side of the River and check out the Western Antique Aviation and Automobile Museum. You won't regret it. If you stop there on the second Saturday of the month they bring some of their antiques out to fly and drive.

As mentioned before, Tieton State (4S6) is a great stop but watch out for numerous cow and Elk pies on the grass strip.

Stop and see Cub Crafters in Yakama (KYKM) and visit some of the super wineries in the area.

Little Goose Lock and Dam (16W) is a gravel strip on the Snake River that is walking distance to the locks and that can be an interesting operation to watch. The same can be said for Monumental State airstrip (W09) just downstream.

Generally the area east of the Cascades is very arid and brown but can have clearer skies than Western WA. The area West of the Cascades is a lot wetter, but is lush and green. There's lots of cumulo-granite in the mountains and the Cascades are real mountains so be up top speed on mountain flying before heading into them.

Good morning Flyhound. That is Great,

What is the name/identifier of the airport at Port Townsend that has the vintage aeroplane museum?

Thanks. Gary

shortfielder wrote:Good morning Flyhound. That is Great,

What is the name/identifier of the airport at Port Townsend that has the vintage aeroplane museum?

Thanks. Gary

Jefferson County
https://www.airnav.com/airport/0S9

Neat museum and good restaurant.

shortfielder wrote: Good morning Flyhound. That is Great,
What is the name/identifier of the airport at Port Townsend that has the vintage aeroplane museum?
Thanks. Gary

0S9 is my home airport, and I'm a volunteer at the museum.

https://ptaeromuseum.com/

It's not as grand as the much larger museum at Hood River, but it's still pretty cool.
Get ahold of me if & when you're here, Gary.

You can camp at KFHR but the fees are ridiculous. Definitely worth visiting though. Short hop over to Orcas to camp. Camping at KORS is my favorite.

Thanks Eric. I will expect to be there along with another buddy or two or three. :>)) and definitely give ya a shout. Gary

cdgarg wrote: You can camp at KFHR but the fees are ridiculous. .....

Where is the camping? West of the transient parking at the NE corner?

Relatively new thing. Fire pit next to the pilot's lounge by the NE gate. $15 tie down fee+ $25 for "wing camping in designated are only". Not sure where that is. I think KORS is $10/night to tie down on grass and camp. Consequently, I've never seen anyone camp at KFHR.

https://www.portfridayharbor.org/airpor ... -services/

Yeah, like Chris said the camping at Friday Harbor is a joke, Orcas is $10/night or I think it was $33/week, new bathrooms, 2 showers, nice grass, and town right next door. Last I heard camping was closed though. Nice gravel bars on the Skagit River 20 min from Orcas. Lot's of interesting places nearby, Stehekin, Concrete, Port Townsend. I've spent something like the last 12 summers camping at Orcas and flying around there and over to Idaho. Cavanaugh Bay is a couple hours east. Looking like this will be the first summer I don't go. (unless a miracle happens or "it just goes away like magic" as we have been told it might.)

If you join the Washington Pilots Association, they own a cabin on Stuart Island that is available free for members. It is RUSTIC,, but the setting is spectacular. The private runway is 7WA5, Stuart Island Airpark. Here's what it's like flying there.

https://youtu.be/MvIf6C4OdF0

There are no facilities there but it's a very special place.

We had some great Aviation museums in the state but times aren't being good to them. The Historic Flight Foundation had a great museum at Paine Field (KPAE), but they're moving the collection to Feels Field in Spokane. The new facility isn't open yet. The Flying Heritage and Combat Armor museum started by Paul Allen has some fabulous flying machines (actually still flying) in it's collection, including a Mosquito from WWII, but that music appears to have closed indefinitely due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Boeing's museum at Boeing Field (KBFI) is another good one but they only have virtual tour for now. Bad time to be a tourist. There little museum in Port Townsend is sweet, but I don't think it is open to the public yet. Eric can correct me on that. If you do make it up this way if enjoy meeting you too. It looks like Port Townsend's airport (0S9) could reopen late next week. The runway being rebuilt and repaved. Half the paving is in place but more asphalt is on hold until the rain stops. Fly safe from one Gary to another.

Flyhound wrote:We had some great Aviation museums in the state but times aren't being good to them....
. There little museum in Port Townsend is sweet, but I don't think it is open to the public yet.....

The PT Aero Museum display building will be open for business as soon as our county moves into phase 3 of the CV recovery plan.
Hopefully by the end of the month, maybe sooner.

You should just camp downtown Seattle Gary, you’ll be safe there, the cops won’t be there to strangle you!