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Patos Island is a 207-acre marine park that features dramatic rock formations, a landscape of madrone trees and a working lighthouse. Boat in and stay overnight at a primitive campsite and immerse yourself in the remote beauty of the San Juan Islands.

Two of Washington’s great rivers converge at Wenatchee Confluence State Park. This place connects different geologic terranes, Indigenous nations, fruit growers, packers and distributors, transportation networks, residents and visitors.

The roughly 150 mile Eastern portion of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail requires registration.

Pacific Pines State Park provides public access to the 27-mile-long beach fronting the Pacific Ocean on the Long Beach Peninsula, a stretch of sand and storm-driven waves dedicated to public recreation.

Emerald waters, forested trails, magnificent sunsets and sandstone formations have made Sucia Island a crown jewel among our state marine parks. Venture into the coves and harbors and discover why it is a world-class boating destination.

Griffiths-Priday Ocean State Park is set on a wide hard-sand beach where the Copalis River empties into the Pacific Ocean. The park’s waters and sands conceal evidence of a massive earthquake that transformed the surrounding landscape.

Rockport State Park is renowned for its forest of giant Douglas fir, western red cedar and western hemlock trees--some more than 600 years old. The classic old growth forest features large trees, standing snags, decaying logs and layered, multi-aged forest species. It has held great value for people through the ages, although it has been valued in different ways in different times.

Set on a stretch of shoreline between Tacoma and Seattle, Saltwater is one of the most popular Washington state parks. While you won't often have the beach to yourself on a warm summer day, the atmosphere can't be beat.
Nestled in the richly forested Selkirk Mountains with 100 miles of trails, Mount Spokane offers both summer and winter recreation and has something for everyone.

Ike Kinswa State Park encompasses a rich history about the ways in which natural resources have been stewarded and exploited at the historic confluence of the Tilton and Cowlitz Rivers, now flooded by the reservoir behind Mayfield Dam.

Yakima Sportsman State Park is, literally, an oasis in the desert. Located near the urban amenities of Yakima in arid eastern Washington, this park attracts local picnickers, out-of-town visitors and road-trippers passing through.

Federation Forest State Park is an oasis of old growth forest preserved by women who banded together to effect social change and influence public policy despite barriers to their participation in political life.

In the park, Douglas fir trees soaring 200-300 feet high into the forest canopy have been growing for 300-400 years or more. Long after they die, their fallen trunks or standing snags continue to provide habitats for a diverse community of life.

Lincoln Rock State Park is a popular recreation area with access to Lake Entiat, the reservoir created by Rocky Reach Dam.

Indigenous Lands

The park lies within the traditional territories of Sahaptian and Interior Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. For thousands of years this area has provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.

Ocean City State Park has been an oceanfront destination for generations. The park faces the Pacific Ocean at North America’s “active margin,” where the ocean-floor Juan de Fuca tectonic plate slowly sinks beneath the continent, sliding at a rate of about 13 feet per century in the plate’s subduction zone. Sudden movements of the Juan de Fuca Plate can cause earthquakes that may modify the land surface and generate tsunamis.

Lewis and Clark State Park preserves precious remnants of once-common southwest Washington landscapes along a historic Indigenous travel route.

Indigenous Lands

The park lies within the traditional territories of Coast Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. For thousands of years this area has provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures.

Miller Peninsula State Park Property holds the potential to become one of Washington’s most beloved state parks. Perched on forested bluffs overlooking the marine passage into Washington’s inland waterways and sandwiched between the protected harbors of Discovery Bay and Sequim Bay, this quiet landscape has nonetheless been touched by many lives. For the S’Klallam people, this land is part of a homeland that spans the shores and uplands of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

This unassuming park has a welcoming campground in a thicket of trees, and its forested creek was recently restored for salmon health. Local elk herds roam through the area, and pileated woodpeckers are busy with their beaks, tapping out rhythms on the trees.

Lewis and Clark Trail State Park lies nestled in a grove of ponderosa pine trees in the valley of the Touchet River. The park is situated along a pathway used for thousands of years to connect the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with the salmon highway of the Columbia River.

Admire the Ice Age flood-carved Palouse landscape while picnicking under shade trees on the grassy lawn or boating at the confluence of the Snake and Palouse rivers.
The Winter Recreation Program at Washington State Parks will be temporarily closing 14 motorized Sno-parks for the 2024-2025 season.

Washington’s Sand Sea

Potholes State Park is set in a unique environment dominated by ancient sand dunes and a modern irrigation reservoir.

In the final stages of the most recent ice age, masses of glacial ice repeatedly blocked meltwater drainage, creating huge bodies of impounded water in northern Washington, Idaho and Montana. When the ice dams melted or were breached by the sheer weight of water behind them, gigantic Ice Age floods swept over the landscape.

Shoppers can conveniently explore merchandise on the new site

OLYMPIA – Nov. 29, 2021 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission launched a new online store that provides customers with an improved experience when shopping for popular products.

The store features fan-favorite items including icon prints of each state park, Winter Recreation scarves, 2022 Parks calendars, guidebooks, Discover Passes and e-gift cards.

OLYMPIA – April 5, 2023 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will hold its regular hybrid commission meeting on Thurs., April 13, 2023, at The Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane.

The public is welcome to attend in-person or online.

Agenda items include:

Steamboat Rock State Park preserves spectacular features of the Columbia Plateau Ice Age Floods. The 800-foot-tall butte of Steamboat Rock, sheer cliffs, and scoured coulees are remnants of a series of flood events that completely dwarf the imagination.

Located midway between Orcas and Lummi islands, Clark Island Marine State Park is a stretch of land that's perfect for napping, camping and relaxing after a big day of boating or paddling. Take in spectacular sunrises and sunsets from your tent pitched on the beach.