Five things
#1. It’s not a full-fledged state park. Miller Peninsula, about ten miles east of Sequim, is a state park property which the State Parks and Recreation Commission defines as a “state park area which is held for future development.”
#2. First conceived in the 1980s, at more than 40 years in there is some progress at Miller Peninsula, but this isn’t the fully developed recreational park proponents envisioned. Even though State Parks identified this area of the state as needing more state parks, some locals are concerned about impacts to the environment and surrounding communities if Miller Peninsula is developed into a destination camping park.
#3. The park is ideal for hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrians. Set aside several hours to reach the water with its view of Protection Island, a national wildlife refuge set aside for seabirds and marine mammals, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. From the main parking lot it’s about eight miles round-trip. We might have made it all the way to the water if we’d paused less often to snack on the huckleberries growing along the trail.
#4. The forest has the feel of an old logging site, with some older trees and a whole lot of young ones. No matter what happens here in terms of recreational development, this forest will require management to prevent overgrowth and fire hazard.
#5. There’s a new paved parking lot with a vault toilet and signs, horse-mounting ramp, and picnic tables—but that’s pretty much it. Another parking area at the Manzanita trailhead, which makes the hike to the bluffs a bit shorter, can fit perhaps a half-dozen cars and was full when we went there.
Fast Facts about Miller Peninsula State Park Property
- day-use park, open year-round
- saltwater shorelines along Strait of Juan de Fuca
- one vault toilet
- horse-loading ramp, one picnic table
- about 20 miles of well-signed hiking trails, mountain biking, birding, wildlife viewing
- beachcombing
- Discover Pass required, $10 daily or, for a very reasonable $30, purchase an annual pass
- camping and roofed accommodations, hookups, reservable online or by calling 888-CAMPOUT
- interim trail map (scroll to page 7)
Land Acknowledgment
Miller Peninsula Bay State Park Property occupies the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the S’Klallam people, whose descendants include the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Lower Elwha Klallam peoples, and who have lived and travelled here since time immemorial.
