We're updating our camping and moorage fees to continue providing great experiences for visitors amid inflation and rising costs. You will see a rate increase for camping stays booked for May 15 and beyond. Moorage fees will increase Jan. 1. Learn more here.
Search results
1113 results found
Airplane pilots and boaters compare Puget Sound to a maze. Land fingers, islands and waterways comprise the stunning topography, and South Sound inlets dead-end at mudflats and beaches. Amidst all this intrigue, Joemma Beach State Park is remarkably accessible.
Located on the Yakama Indian Reservation, Fort Simcoe is one of the few remaining pre-Civil War forts in the west. Take a walk through the fort and enjoy the landscape.
Among the enchanting San Juan Islands, snag a cliffside campsite for breathtaking views, explore untamed beaches, and glimpse native residents such as deer and otter on Jones Island.
OLYMPIA — Your visit to Deception Pass State Park will look a little bit different this year as park staff steward its recovery from winter storms.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (Parks) invites the public to participate in conversations about a potential expansion of Riverside State Park.
Join Ranger Gladson for a New Years Day hike to Clayton Beach at Larrabee State Park. This newly renovated trail is family friendly and includes stream bridges, boardwalks over wetlands, and a new pedestrian overpass. Ranger Gladson will provide interpretation along the way with local flora and fauna as well as history of Larrabee State Park.
All but hidden on the west side of Marrowstone Island, Mystery Bay State Park offers a great escape for visitors arriving by land or by water. Boaters can dock or lay anchor and stroll along the grassy and gravelly shoreline or enjoy the inlet's pristine waters.
Nationwide recruitment efforts lead to internal talent
OLYMPIA – March 16, 2022 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission announced today the appointment of Diana Dupuis as the agency's new director. Dupuis will be the first female director since the agency was established more than 100 years ago.
On the waters of South Puget Sound, McMicken Island is surrounded by moorage buoys. This tiny island can only be accessed by boat, making it a unique getaway filled with natural splendor.
In my junior year at University of Washington, I learned about park aide positions available at Lake Sylvia State Park, just two miles from downtown "Monte," a park where I had spent sooo many hours swimming and playing as a kid - and way too many hours working on my tan as a teenager. I applied and worked there two summers - 1986 and 1987. Almost 40 years later I still think of that job as one of my all-time favorites!
OLYMPIA – May 24, 2023 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will hold its regularly scheduled commission work session virtually on May 31.
Commission work session items include a financial update covering Parks' 2021-23 biennium operating and capital budget expenditures and Parks Renewal and Stewardship Account (PRSA) revenue; a presentation on potential changes to the Foster Family Program; and a discussion about potential dates and locations for 2024 Commission work session and regular meetings.
Saint Edward State Park hugs the shore of Lake Washington, the second largest natural lake in Washington, surpassed in area only by Lake Chelan. Tongues of the great Pleistocene glaciers that excavated the passageways of Puget Sound also dug the nearly 20 mile long basin of Lake Washington. For thousands of years, the lake received fresh water from the Sammamish River at its north end and drained through the Black River into Puget Sound at its south end.
Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park preserves a swath of semi-arid shrub-steppe in central Washington that hides a secret. Buried within the gravelly and sandy soils of the park’s landscape are remnants of an ancient forest, turned to stone by a fortunate convergence of geologic events.
Flood Basalts and Lahars
Ginkgo Petrified Forest lies near the western margin of the Columbia River Basalt Group, a geologic formation made up of hundreds of distinct lava flows that flooded over 80,000 square miles of Washington and Oregon.
Meeting update: The public will not be able to attend the April 11 Commission meeting virtually due to a technical emergency at TVW.
Though the meeting will not be livestreamed, a recording of the meeting will be posted on this webpage approximately one week after the meeting. The public is still invited to attend in person. By having an in-person option, this meeting meets the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act.
A rare cluster of old-growth trees creates an inspiring shadow to stand in. Rainbow Falls State Park, 16 miles west of Chehalis, is a walker’s paradise. Miles of loamy trails wind through the forest and along the river, to a small cascade that throws rainbows of spray at the sun.
Crawford State Park feels like it's at the end of the earth, and its star attraction, Gardner Cave, feels like the center of the earth.
Hike the Howard Adams Trail with Parks' staff on Jan. 1.
Try a new trail this Jan. 1 at Spencer Spit State Park.
Set on a rocky cliff at the west end of San Juan Island, Lime Kiln Point is considered one of the best whale-watching spots on earth. Catch a glimpse from a viewpoint or the lighthouse.
This day use park sits at the end of Ebey Road and is one of the trailheads for the popular Bluff Loop Trail. Featuring dramatic, sweeping views of the Olympic Mountains, visitors can begin the 3.5 mile hike up to the top of the bluff and along the beach – one of the most popular hikes in the state.
Brooks Memorial sits between the pine forests of the Simcoe Mountains and the Columbia River Gorge. This environmental diversity makes for a stunning park site. The miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails lead along the Little Klickitat River and up through Ponderosa pine and stands of Oregon white oak.
Bay View State Park is perched above the waves of Padilla Bay at the western edge of the Skagit Valley. The scenic spot lies within the traditional territories of Coast Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Samish Indian Nation, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Suquamish Tribe and Lummi Nation. For thousands of years the rich estuary and its extensive eelgrass beds have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.
The 31-mile Klickitat State Park Trail hugs the meanders of the Klickitat River and its tributary, Swale Creek, revealing stories of massive volcanic flows, bubbling mineral springs, timeless Indigenous subsistence traditions, ephemeral attempts at wresting profits from the land, and a delightful environment of oak and pine woodlands and grasslands. The trail stretches from a windswept plateau 1,600 feet above sea level to the river’s confluence with the mighty Columbia River barely 100 feet above sea level.
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission is beginning a process to update the long-term boundary for Pearrygin Lake State Park to include properties on the north shore of the lake. This change would result in all of Pearrygin Lake’s shoreline being within the long-term park boundary, allowing for future connection of a loop trail around the lake.
Jackson House State Park Heritage Site is a 1.4-acre day-use park in Chehalis on the Jackson Highway. The park was the setting of a homestead cabin built in 1850 by John R. Jackson, one of the first Euro-Americans to settle north of the Columbia River and an important figure in early Washington territorial history.