Griffiths- Priday State Park and Ocean City State Park

Our last two stops on our way home from the Olympic National Park in Washington are state parks on the Pacific Ocean:  Griffiths-Priday and Ocean City.  Griffiths-Priday State Park is a day-use park with both river and ocean recreation.  The Copalis National Wildlife Refuge and Copalis Split Natural Area in the park are great spots for viewing migratory birds.  The river and ocean offer both fresh water and saltwater fishing and clamming.  We follow the river to the ocean and stroll on the sandy beach.

Along the river

To the Pacific Ocean

And sandy beaches

Since we're not fishing or clamming today and have about another 3 hours of driving ahead of us, we wander back to our car and continue to Ocean City State Park, where another walk along a creek leads us to more fabulous beaches and the associated fishing and clamming.

Path to the beach

Getting close

Viewing spot

We reach a small lagoon, with the beach on the other side, but have another 15-20 minute hike around the lagoon before reaching the sand.

Continuing around a small lagoon

Finally the beach

Fog forms over the ocean and quickly  drifts onto the beach as we stand near the water and are surrounded.

Fog rolls in

As we cross the beach back to the path, we find many crab and clam shells, signs that the birds have been eating well.

Shells on the beach

Drifting sand

We return from the beach and continue our drive home.

Return path

On the road just past the park, we pass an outdoor store of carved wooden figures.  What an odd surprise, although we do remember that this area certainly has a lot of wood and this is a great creative use of it.

Carved wood store

These are two great small parks and we're glad we stopped as we went by (eating our lunch at a picnic table in Ocean City).

Moclips and Seabrook, Washington

Moclips is a beautiful small town on the Pacific Ocean just below the Olympic National Park.  Built on the location of a Quinault Indian village, the town was first settled in 1902 and grew rapidly after the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad line in 1905.  Today, Moclips is a tourist destination for camping, hiking, kayaking, clamming, surfing, fishing, and bird watching.  The town sponsors kite contests, sand sculpture competitions, and the Kelper's Parade and Celebration.

We visit Mocrocks Beach in Moclips, a great place for fishing and razor clamming.  Along the way to Moclips, we pass through logged-out forest just outside the Olympic National Park, some of it replanted and starting to grow back.

Logging here

Mocrocks Beach in Moclips allows driving on the beach and we pull onto the sand and watch other cars driving all over the beach to their favorite fishing and clamming spots.

On the beach

Leaving the beach and continuing on the road along the Pacific, we reach Seabrook, a planned community on the ocean with a charming small-town atmosphere.  The town appears as a sudden surprise on the road:  in a rural, ocean-view stretch of highway, the speed limit drops and, around a corner, we enter a scenic, vibrant, upscale town with winding lanes, wraparound porches, saltbox houses, and shingled cottages.  The town was inspired by Seaside in Florida and is a modern, planned community started in 2005 and built from scratch like a movie set.

We park on the street by a clam cleaning station and wander (you have to like a town that has public clam cleaning stations).

Clam cleaning

Seabrook

We follow a path to the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and then descend to the beach.

Overlooking the ocean

Descending to the beach

At the entrance to the beach, a stand holds baskets for beach walkers to use to collect trash on their walks and dispose of it on returning.

Trash baskets

After a short stroll on the beach, we climb back up to the bluff overlooking the beach and wander through the young (and much still under construction) town.

Up from the beach

Back into town

As we leave town, we travel south along the Pacific, watching the waves roll in on more beautiful beaches.

Waves roll in, fog over the water

The beaches and towns of this area are quite a pleasant surprise and definitely worthy of a longer visit in the future.