Best Tent Camping near Port Townsend, WA
Tent camping options surround Port Townsend, Washington with several established campgrounds situated on the nearby Olympic Peninsula and surrounding islands. Fort Ebey State Park Campground offers designated walk-in tent sites in a densely forested setting, while Dungeness Forks Campground provides a more primitive tent camping experience along river confluences approximately 25 miles southwest of Port Townsend. Some campgrounds like Kinney Point State Park are only accessible by water, requiring paddlers to transport tent gear by kayak or small boat.
Many tent-specific sites feature packed dirt or forest floor surfaces with varying degrees of privacy depending on vegetation density. Fort Ebey provides raked, well-maintained tent pads with picnic tables and fire rings at each site, though campers should note the $35 fee for premium sites and $25 for standard sites. Most primitive tent areas lack drinking water facilities and have only basic vault toilets. Campers seeking walk-in tent sites should be prepared for short hikes from parking areas to their campsites. At Dungeness Forks, the steep access road restricts larger vehicles and requires cautious navigation even for standard cars.
Tent campers benefit from access to natural features often unavailable to RV users. Fort Ebey tent sites offer walking trails to scenic bluffs overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca and access to beach areas via steep hiking paths. The densely forested setting provides good shade and wildlife viewing opportunities. At Dungeness Forks, primitive tent sites sit directly beside rivers, providing ambient sounds and fishing opportunities. Based on reviews from The Dyrt, "Every site has a fire pit and there is a restroom to use. Beautiful little spot right next to a river that collides with another one." Tent-specific sites typically offer better privacy than combined RV/tent areas, with vegetation buffers between campsites in the more established campgrounds.
