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A first-time visitor to Paradise Point State Park might wonder why a place so close to the roar of a busy interstate highway was chosen to be one of Washington’s “cherished places.” It is important to remember that this landscape has a story that runs much longer and deeper than the concrete ribbon of Interstate 5.
Westport Light State Park encompasses the southern point at the entrance to Grays Harbor. The point is a constantly changing bit of land, at the whim of sand and waves. The name of the point has fluctuated, too, finally landing on Point Chehalis, using the tribal name of its original people, translated as People of the Sand.
Fort Columbia State Park preserves an example of a US Army defense project from the beginning of the 20th century. Its strategic location on a high bluff at the entrance to the Columbia River estuary also features wide views of one of the most consequential places in the modern story of the Pacific Northwest.
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.
McMicken Island Marine State Park is an off-the-beaten-path destination for boaters near Harstine Island that was homesteaded and used as a vacation home for many years.
Washington’s largest state park envelops the summit and slopes of 5,887-foot Mount Spokane. The park’s roads, trails and ski runs provide access to a wide variety of habitats, from old growth forests to the splintered rock fields and meadows at the mountain’s peak. The summit features the historic Vista House, built as an emergency relief project in 1933 using blocks of the mountain’s native granite.
The 56-mile Willapa Hills State Park Trail weaves together a landscape steeped in stories of the land and the people that have made their lives in the southwest corner of today’s Washington.
Saddlebag Island Marine State Park lies on the western side of Padilla Bay in a chain of four small islands extending southeast from the corner of Guemes Island. It shares an unusual geologic history with Hope Island, another Washington Marine State Park about ten miles south, and Cypress Island, a Natural Resources Conservation Area six miles west.
Parks staff offer reminders, tips and rules for fireworks and use of state parks
OLYMPIA – June 22, 2022 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission encourages safe and responsible gatherings in state parks during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday.
Parks urges visitors to:
OLYMPIA – March 1, 2022 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will host their regularly scheduled work session virtually on March 8.
The public may listen to or watch the meeting through the resources listed below. This is a work session between staff and the Commission. The public is invited to attend, but no public comment will be taken. No decisions will be made by the Commission at the work session.
The Spokane River flows west from its source at Coeur d’Alene Lake through the Spokane Valley. After it tumbles over its namesake waterfalls in its namesake city, it bends to the northwest and meanders through a spectacular canyon described by some as the “Grand Park of the Spokane.”
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.
OLYMPIA – Oct. 6, 2021 – Today the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission received the voluntary resignation of Director Pete Mayer. Mayer's decision to resign is based on the best interest of his family and he steps down as director to pursue other opportunities closer to his new home. The commission appreciates Mayer's service to Parks and the citizens of Washington state. Mayer was initially appointed as director in March 2021.
Seasonal positions will serve parks across Washington.
OLYMPIA – Washington State Parks is recruiting seasonal park aides to work in its beautiful outdoor places this spring, summer and fall.
Parks is looking for more than 300 park aides and senior park aides to work from April through September in such diverse environments as old-growth forests, channeled scabland and shrub steppe, on Pacific Ocean beaches, in the high desert and around Puget Sound and its islands.
OLYMPIA – Feb. 22, 2023 – The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will hold its regularly scheduled commission work session virtually on March 1.
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; An update on the 2023 legislative session; and an update on the work to develop a new state park at Nisqually State Park in partnership with the Nisqually Indian Tribe.