Campground Review:
Bogachiel State Park is poised right between the Olympic Peninsula Coast near Forks, Washington and La Push and the Hoh Rainforest. It's incredibly lush, so even though some campsites are closer together it never feels crowded. Instead, it has a lovely, meandering vibe.
I appreciate that there are a two campsites reserve just for bikepackers or walk-ins, as well as the larger car camping sites. There is also a group campsite and a ADA-accessible campsite for disabled campers. The bathrooms have showers, and are also ADA-accessible. RVs under 40 feet in length can be accommodated, too.
Named for the Bogachiel River that extends out of the Hoh Rainforest towards the Pacific, you can get your feet wet here and even go tubing. The location is pretty ideal— it's a reasonable drive from both Portland and Seattle and equidistant between the beach and the mountains, so it's a great basecamp from which to further explore the Olympic Peninsula over a multi-day camping trip. There are plenty of amenities to make your stay comfortable, but you still feel like you're really in nature, which is nice.
Product Review:
As a Dyrt Ranger, I'm lucky enough to occasionally have the opportunity to test and evaluate products. On this trip, I tested Ethnotek's Padu Dopp Kit Toiletry Bag, the Padu Zipper Pouch, and the Chaalo Pocket Travel Bag.
One of my biggest pet peeves any time I'm living out of a backpack is losing all my small items only to find them rattling around in the bottom of my pack later. Whether I'm camping or traveling, I like knowing exactly where all my charger cables, chapstick, hand sanitizer, pens, sunscreen, makeup, and hairpins are. The Padu Dopp Kit Toiletry Bag and Padu Zipper Pouch were perfect for wrangling all that ephemera within my big backpack.
Both the Padu bags are surprisingly roomy. I was impressed with how much I could fit into them. There are a number of thoughtful details, too. The Toiletry Bag is pretty on the outside, but the inside is made of water-resistant fabric, so I don't have to worry about spilled hand cream ruining my bag. There's also a mesh pocket so you can easily confirm the contents at a glance. The other interior pocket is made of that same water-resistant material, which is nice for keeping things like your toothbrush clean and separate.
The Padu Zipper Pouch is smaller and simpler, with no interior pockets. Still, it was plenty big enough to hold all sorts of things, like a few phone chargers, sunglasses, and my spare battery pack. I like that you can order both products in a variety of different exterior patterns, too. It makes it even easier to stay organized when I don't have to worry about mixing up my bags. It's also wonderful that these are sturdy and practical, but pretty enough that I can carry them as a clutch bag. Perfect for when you're trying to travel light and need your gear to pull double duty!
The Chaalo Pocket Travel Bag can definitely play multiple roles, too. You can use it to keep your essentials in one place within your larger backpack, like your keys, wallet, passport, credit or transit cards, point-and-shoot camera etc. It's long nylon strap, though, lets you use it as a cross-body or shoulder purse, too, just the right size for excursions where a day pack would be too much. No fumbling around looking for the car keys— there's an interior key clip. No looking for a pen, either, with the three pen slots. I was glad to have this when we wanted to leave Bogachiel and grab brunch at the River's Edge Restaurant on the Quileute Indian Reservation thirty minutes away.
Like the two Padu bags, the Chaalo is also a really attractive bag that is as nice-looking as it is sturdy. That's a bonus for me— sometimes I get tired of outdoor gear that is all about performance but leaves something to be desired in the aesthetic department. Bogachiel is in such a beautiful part of the world. It's nice to have bags that are just as attractive.
