Search results

Pacific Beach State Park has a long history as a place for travelers to rest as they journey along Washington’s Pacific Ocean coastline.

Indigenous Lands

The park lies within the traditional territories of Coast Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Quinault Indian Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation.

Ethnographers reported that the mouth of Joe Creek in today’s Pacific Beach State Park served as a “rest stop” for Indigenous people traveling along the coast between trading centers. 

Beacon Rock State Park centers on the prominent rock monolith that rises more than 840 feet above the Columbia River, but the park’s landscapes and stories extend well beyond the rock.

Boring Volcanics and Ice Age Floods

Beacon Rock is the core of an extinct volcanic cinder cone that erupted about 57,000 years ago. It is part of a volcanic feature geologists call the Boring Volcanic Field (named for the town of Boring, OR), as is the explosive caldera featured in nearby Battle Ground Lake State Park.

The story of Camano Island State Park’s development is an inspirational reminder of Margaret Mead’s advice: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.”

Doug’s Beach State Park is a legendary launch site for enjoying wind sports on the swells of the Columbia River reservoirs, situated in a place with spectacular scenery and a long cultural history.

Leadbetter Point State Park preserves an otherworldly place of sand dunes, stunted forests, wildlife-filled wetlands and solitude at the northern tip of the Long Beach Peninsula on Washington’s southern coast.

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.

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.

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.

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.