Cama Beach State Park – state parks quest #4

We’ve all had weeks like this. Deadlines stacked up. Work craziness. The feeling of being on a turbo-powered hamster wheel. Usually, after that kind of week, Mr. Adventure and I spend the weekend alternately slumped on the couch and getting out for a local hike. The downside of that approach is that we’re still at home, which means the domestic to-do list looms large. This time, I announced, we were leaving town. And to my delight, I scored a cabin at Cama Beach Historical State Park.

A family-friendly resort

I first heard about Cama Beach about 10 years ago, shortly after the park opened to the public. The area was once a shellfish gathering site and summer camp for native peoples, then a logging operation in the early 1900s. But Cama Beach’s contemporary charm dates to the 1930s, when it was a popular fishing resort on Saratoga Passage, an arm of Puget Sound that separates Camano and Whidbey islands. In the mid-20th century, Washington boasted nearly 200 such resorts, which provided families a reasonably priced vacation destination easily reached by automobile.

Cama Beach was beloved for its family-friendly vibe. In addition to excellent fishing, the resort offered crabbing, swimming, boat rentals, games, sports courts, movie nights, dances, nature walks, and campfire programs. Rental cabins provided a comfortable, if rustic, accommodation, and visitors could purchase groceries and supples at the general store.

The resort operated from 1934 to 1989, when the second-generation family owners, determined that this special place be preserved, decided to donate it to the state as a park emphasizing environmental stewardship. Working with several local groups, including The Center for Wooden Boats, a Seattle-based nonprofit, and the Friends of Camano Island Parks, the owners struck a deal to turn the resort and land over to Washington State.

Restored to former glory, now a state park

After nearly two decades spent raising funds, carefully restoring the original cedar cabins and bungalows for modern use, renovating the store, boathouse, and museum, building a modern restroom block with showers, and constructing the striking Cama Center, an event space and cafe, the new Cama Beach Historical State Park opened in 2008. At the time, you could only rent cabins by phone reservation, but it didn’t matter. The resort was immediately booked months ahead.

That’s probably when I first heard of it, and every now and again during the ensuing years I’d check availability, always to no avail. This year, though, Cama Beach cabin rentals went online, and on a lark I took a look. Lo and behold, one waterfront cabin was available. I typed so fast to try to nab it that I kept hitting wrong keys and having to refresh the page. But at last I clicked “confirm,” and the cabin was ours.

Welcome to Cama Beach. Leave your car here.

We checked in at the park entrance, where we were given a map and told to park our car in a lot nearby. Overnight guests need to bring everything with them — bedding, pillows, towels, food, dishes, pots and pans — so there’s a fair amount of stuff to lug downhill from the top of the bluff to the waterside cabins. Volunteers operate a shuttle bus, and after waiting a few minutes, it pulled up and we loaded our gear.

On the way down to the beach, the driver told us that in the summer, the park was “wall-to-wall kids.” Just like in the mid-1900s, families show up for a week or two to enjoy the peace (but not quiet, not with that many kids) of the resort. There were plenty of kids running around during our stay, too. A little girl sat, legs akimbo, on the basketball court, pouting because her shots weren’t going in the net. Two boys played soccer. Bikes leaned against cabin porches. Buckets for shell-gathering were piled on picnic tables.

Rustic = handmade quilts and running water

The cabins are modest and comfortable, featuring a small kitchen with running water, refrigerator and microwave and, in the case of the waterfront cabins, two beds for four people. Other cabins can sleep up to eight people. There are plenty of shelves and hooks to stash your gear, as well as games, puzzles, and books for use during your stay. Each cabin includes quilts made by local quilters in colors and themes related to Cama Beach. Initially, these volunteers made 100 quilts in time for the park’s opening. Now there are nearly 400, including several on display in the Cama Center.

We dropped our stuff and immediately headed up the hill to the cafe, hoping to get lunch before it closed. After a tasty and reasonably priced meal topped off with a slice of homemade cherry pie, we walked back to the cabin. The weather was glorious, and Mr. Adventure grabbed his book and plopped down on the handcrafted bench outside. I sat for a few minutes, but was too restless to focus on reading, so I headed out to explore.

Exploring Cama Beach past and present

We’d picked up a walking history tour brochure, and I followed the path it described past the cabins, an old gas pump, the general store and museum, a horse-drawn grader used to spread gravel in the old days, and past the reconstructed entrance sign up the original driveway, now a walking trail. At the top of the old driveway a boulder pointed the way out of the park at the same spot a painted section of log had done in the 1930s.

I followed a hiking trail along the bluff, through a spellbinding forest of Douglas-fir, Western redcedar, spruce, and alder. The forest floor was carpeted in salal, Oregon grape, mixed ferns, and huckleberry, with spreading plants creeping along the ground. Stinging nettles, a sure sign of spring, were just popping up. Two overlook platforms featured interpretive signs about the plants and trees found in the forest, and I stopped to gaze out at Saratoga Passage sparkling in the afternoon sun. I had the trail to myself.

Eventually, I took a cutoff that passed the welcome station and found myself back on the original entrance road. Walking back toward the cabins, I met a dignified standard white poodle named Woody (“It’s Sweet Woodruff,” his bright-cheeked owner told me, “after the native plant”) who looked like a slender sheep. I wish I’d thought to ask for a picture of him.

Out again, this time with Mr. Adventure

Back at the cabin, I told Mr. Adventure, “Come on. This place is amazing. You’re going to love it.” We retraced the route I’d just walked, then extended our walk over to Cranberry Pond, which looks like a former cranberry bog but now provides food and shelter for geese, ducks, and other birds. A pileated woodpecker winged overhead, announcing its presence with short, sharp wuk, wuk calls, and a Northern flicker startled out of some reeds.

Because our weekend was last-minute, and because I didn’t want to plan and cook meals, we went out for dinner to a wonderful Polish restaurant about ten miles away. If you happen to be in the area, this is a don’t-miss. Whatever else you order (it will all be delicious) be sure to get the potatoes. The owner told us his potatoes, cooked according to a secret recipe, garnered more comments than any other dish. Deservedly so. We think they might be cooked in butter. Mmmmm.

Back at the cabin, we called it a night. The next morning, we woke to a gorgeous sunrise over the Olympics, had a yummy breakfast at the cafe, and planned our day. I’m so glad we finally made it to Cama Beach, and we’re already thinking about a storm-watching trip there next winter.

Fast facts about Cama Beach Historical State Park

• 486-acre waterfront park, open year-round
• $10 daily parking pass (buy the annual Discover Pass, a bargain at $30)
• beach
• boat rentals, crabbing, diving, swimming, fishing
• hiking, birdwatching, wildlife viewing
• biking, horseshoe pits, sports courts
• cabins available for rent online and by phone (888-CAMPOUT) nine months ahead of arrival date
• boathouse, store, museum
• fire circles
• interpretive programs, children’s activities, toy boat building
• cafe serving breakfast and lunch; hours vary by season
• picnic areas
• restrooms, showers
• park brochure
• park map