From Fort Ebey's bluff trail you look west over the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the beach is the drop below camp. The campground is in the park above that beach, and the bluff is the morning walk.
Fort Casey's walk is the gun-battery bluff and the 1903 lighthouse. Coupeville is the town you pass between the two parks, and those two parks are the island nights.
The Mukilteo ferry to Clinton is how you reach the forts, a wait in the vehicle line, then the island roads. Fort Ebey State Park requires a Discover Pass, and Fort Casey Historical State Park offers winter camping.
Mountain Loop Highway
East of Everett the Mountain Loop Highway runs into the forest. Verlot, Gold Basin, and Turlo are the closest drive-in Forest Service campgrounds to Everett, just off the pavement.
Verlot Campground has no electrical hookups and caps vehicles at 40 feet. If you need more length or sleeping space, look at RVs for rent in Everett.
Gold Basin and Turlo run May through September. The unpaved middle of the highway is gated in winter from Deer Creek to Bedal.
The walk from those campgrounds is the Big Four ice caves, 14.5 miles east of the Verlot Public Service Center. The cave mouth is viewed from the designated overlook at the base of Big Four Mountain's north wall. The Forest Service warns that the caves and the area below the cliffs are extremely dangerous, with rock and ice fall a year-round hazard, and you do not go in or near them.
When the highway is gated, Stevens Pass is the winter ski day. The resort RV lot takes self-contained rigs overnight with electric hookups.
Wallace Falls State Park
The trail at Wallace Falls climbs to three tiers of water east of Everett, and the van stays in the day lot. The parking lot is usually full by late morning on weekends, so you arrive early and walk.
Olympic National Park's north side is a Seattle trip. Deception Pass, the San Juan ferry, and North Cascades belong to Mount Vernon.