Camping at Grayland Beach State Park, WA

Camping at Grayland Beach State Park, WA

We had been on the road in Tacoma Washington for almost a month now visiting my folks and helping get a new roof on their house. Some friends of my parents called and thought it would be nice to do some camping on the coast while they were in town.

It was an easy decision to pack up my parents 5th Wheel (5er) and our motorhome and spend a few days camping at Grayland Beach State Park here in Washington State. After all, it’s only a little over an hour away from Tacoma and the weather wasn’t supposed to be all that bad for the next few days.

We headed out from Mom and Dads in Tacoma WA on June 6th, 2011 about 12:15 pm headed for broken clouds and some sun in the distance to the west. It was a Monday, so the traffic wasn’t too bad on the I-5 and we turned off and headed west at Olympia. Boy, what a beautiful drive.

If you have never been to the Pacific Northwest, then it’s a must for your bucket list.

We arrived at Grayland about 2:30 pm with mostly cloudy skys, windy (as usual there) and temps in the upper 60s. A little cold for June, but the whole spring in the Pacific Northwest has been colder and wetter than usual this year. Not bad, but cool just the same.

We met up with Mom and Dads Friends from church: Bill and Debbie, Paster John (ret) and Verleen, Leo and Donna (my mom and dad).

The park was almost empty with maybe 4 other campers in the place and maybe 3 of their new round Canvas Framed Yurts being occupied.  We had the 30s loop all to ourselves (33 for us through 36.)

Nice Campsites

It was an easy set up in the motorhome, drop the hydraulic jacks, extend the two slides and plug in to the hookups.  Very nice asphalt paved sites. 

After everyone had arrived, I went for a walk on the beach with mom and Kathy and took a few pics.  Windy, cool and gray, but no rain.  There were thousands of crab bodies all along the beach. The birds had quite the feast earlier that morning. I suspect that the rough sea from last night had trapped the crabs as the tide went out and the birds and otters took good advantage.

BBQ’d pork chops for dinner with everyone and a

 nice night under overcast light drizzle sky’s at our campfire that night.  Huckleberry Pie and Ice Cream for desert around 8pm. Called it an evening about 10pm.

Slept in on Tuesday the 7th, took care of mail and misc in the morning.  Pine tree pollen had totally gone into overdrive last night and covered all our rigs in a yellow dust blanket.  The added sprinkles of rain was making it a sticky yellow mess as the morning progressed. 

Mom and the ladies went for a long walk again on the beach after breakfast. They got caught in a bit of a downpour before they got back, but not enough to even really get them too wet.  Said it was quiet on the beach and that they pretty much had it all to themselves. Funny how a little rain keeps people away from the beach and campgrounds.  Of course, school still is in session here for another week.  It will probably pick up a lot after that.  In the mean time, we are enjoying the quiet beauty all most all to ourselves and loving it!

The Gang

We had a group lunch about 12:30pm with sandwiches, crackers and Salmon dip (Yum!), and chips. Then Mom, Dad, Kathy and I headed 15 minutes up the road to Westport for a few groceries and to explore the new remodeled Main Street.  To windy and rainy for too much exploring, but snapped a few photos and took note of how few of the shops had opened yet even though it was the first week of June.  Just been too cold and rainy this year for much early tourism I guess.

Gorgeous town though and I would love to come back on a sunny day later in the year to explore all the great shops and the docks.

We got our groceries, dropped off some mail to go out and back to camp with more firewood on board from a residence in Grayland itself. I also got the photos of a funny sign headed back to the State Park Campground; What do they mean… Beach Access but No Water? Cute!

A Beach with No Water?

Kathy and I spent most of the afternoon to ourselves napping (Kathy) and just catching up on this log and busy work while it rained outside.

Kathy’s making enchilada’s for dinner tonight and everyone else is BBQing their choice of meats with group salads and fresh home made applesauce from my mom.

It was a great time at the campfire that night with Smores and some interesting Sesame Candy from China.

On the 8th, we waited out some rain in the morning while we caught up with some eMail (love wireless internet) and Tweets with Kathy.

That afternoon, we headed out on our bikes as a group and biked all along the Grayland Beach. Had to get off and push in the soft spots, but down near the receding tide, it was hard packed sand. Yes, cars and even RV’s are allowed to drive on the beach here. They just need to follow the rules of the road and keep it slow. It’s pretty safe as long as you stay away from the soft sand and don’t get too close to the water.

Lot’s of shells, sand dollars and parts of crab shells from the storm last night.

After about an hour and a half, we were all pretty worn out (not used to riding our bikes yet this year) and we all headed back to camp.

About 4:30pm, Kathy and I were feeling our legs tighten up a bit from the long bike ride so we decided to go for a walk to loosen them up. We heard from Bill and Debbie that there was a hidden lake just a short 15 minute walk from our campsite.

Seems that there is a path that heads off into the woods near the Camphost site #36. We found it and headed into the totally overgrown trees. It was beautiful and like a little tunnel to walk through. Back there through the thick wooks… there it was.

Wes Enjoys the View

It was beautiful back there and they even had a bench set up to sit and admire the beauty of nature in all it’s splendor.

Kathy and I took the time to explore a bit (pretty wet and swampy in places) and took some photographs of the lake, the woods and of course of us! We had the place all to ourselves and really enjoyed our short walk back there and then back to camp. All in all, we were gone only about 45 minutes, but it felt so good and we really were glad we seen what so many that come to the park miss.

Hidden Lake Pathway

Dinner was a big potluck of all our leftovers and a big camp fire to keep us warm.  A few sprinkles of rain now and again, but nothing to stop us from having a great time.

Kathy and I called it a night early and went to the Motorhome for a movie and just to relax before bed.

On June 9th, it was all too soon time to pack up and head back to Tacoma.

Rain part of the way home, but it was good to get some of the yellow pollen off our rig that had collected in the campground. 

All and all, we had a great time, we loved Grayland Beach State Park and highly recommend it to everyone who has the chance to visit the Washington State Coast.  Full hookup sites are $31 per, Electric and Water only sites are $28 and Dry camp sites closest to the beach are $24.  We really recommend if you are staying more than 1 night to get the full hookup sites back in the trees.  They block the almost constant ocean winds and make it much more comfortable around the campfire at night.

Yurt at Grayland

Yurt Inside View

The water hookups are full of clean fresh water that tastes great and can be drank with no filtering at all. The Electrical hookups are 30 amp and you’ll need an adapter if you only have 15 amp 110 in your smaller RV.

Happy Camping everyone and hope to see you on the road…

Wes and Kathy Waddell

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