Eager for a change of scenery, we headed for the coast and Pacific Beach State Park one sunny summer day. This is a small park, just 17 acres, and walking to the beach from the day-use parking lot, it seemed like most of it was campground. A packed-to-the-gills campground that felt like a small city. Sixty-four sites, including two yurts, are squeezed into everything that isn’t beach. If privacy is high on your list, this might not be the place for you. But it is delightful to walk through the campground, where nearly every site is decorated with windsock schools of tropical fish, flocks soaring birds, and colorful flags.
From the campground, we walked down to the sand. The southern end of the park is bordered by wide, shallow Joe Creek, punctuated by old pilings and a popular place to fly kites. Kids waded in the water and dogs ran around happily.
Following the creek to the ocean, we turned north and wandered the broad beach, where people were widely spaced and shorebirds had plenty of room to find food at the water’s edge. Social distancing is not a problem here.
We turned back toward the campground on a short trail just beyond the restrooms in the north part of the park.
Walking back through the campground, we chatted with friendly camp host Eileen, who said people return to Pacific Beach year after year. That helps explain the elaborate wind sock displays, which enhance this coastal park’s relaxed appeal.
Pacific Beach is a perfect place to chill out for a coast weekend or vacation. If I’d brought a chair, I’d have plunked myself down on the beach with a book for hours. But the park is also well-situated for explorations farther afield. Olympic National Park’s Lake Quinault is a 40-minute drive, the Museum of the North Beach is a 30-minute walk or 5-minute drive, and Ocean Shores is only 25 minutes by car.
Surveilling the Soviets from Pacific Beach
Or stay local, and enjoy some historical intrigue by walking about 10 minutes north to the innocuous-sounding Pacific Beach Resort and Conference Center. More than a century ago, this was the site of the Pacific Beach Hotel, a popular destination for Seattleites looking for a romantic beach getaway. World War II depressed visitation, and the United States Navy saw an opportunity, taking over the hotel and turning it into an anti-aircraft training facility in 1942. After the war, the Air Force ran a radar station there until 1952.
The site sat empty until 1958, when the Navy moved back in to conduct what it called “oceanographic research” with a Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS). In reality, the Navy used the site to monitor Soviet submarine activity. The Navy installed hydrophones, microphones that detect underwater sound, on the sea floor in certain locations. The hydrophones listened for the known sound patterns of Soviet subs, and data from the units transmitted to a processing center on Whidbey Island, which used the information to figure out where the submarines were. It’s all very Hunt for Red October.
In 1987, new technologies rendered the SOSUS obsolete, and the Navy shut down the Pacific Beach station, turning it into a recreational destination for active-duty and retired military personnel and reservists, and Department of Defense and other federal military personnel. To get a closer look and imagine what it might have been like there during the Cold War, grab a meal at the open-to-the-public Pacific Beach Cafe.
Then head back to your peaceful campsite at Pacific Beach State Park, sink into a chair, and watch the windsocks flutter in the summer breeze.
Fast facts about Pacific Beach State Park
- year-round, 17-acre camping park with freshwater and saltwater beach
- Discover Pass required, $10 daily or, for a very reasonable $30 per year, buy one.
- freshwater fishing, beach exploration
- seasonal beach driving
- 62 campsites, 41 with partial hookups (back-in only), two yurts, reserve online or by calling 888-CAMPOUT
- restrooms, showers, dump station
- 8 picnic tables and day-use area
- Park brochure
- Park map
