Episode 52 – A guide to Washington state parks and passes
Episode transcript:
[music intro]
Seth
Welcome back to Fund Your Future with DRS. Washington has more than 140 state parks, which provide budget-friendly ways to recreate and socialize across our state. Today, we’re happy to have Ariel here with us from the Washington State Parks who can share with us the many ways you can enjoy our parks. Welcome, Ariel.
Ariel
Hi. It’s nice to be here.
Seth
So, when people think about state parks, they probably think of camping. But our state parks have a lot of great day use facilities. And to access our state parks, people must have a valid pass. So, I think most people are probably familiar with the Discover Pass to get into Washington State parks or other public lands in Washington. But maybe first, start telling us a little bit about the Discover Pass. And then we can talk about other passes that people might be able to access.
Ariel
Sure. So, the Discover Pass is an annual parking pass. So, it’s used to access a state park, Department of Natural Resource lands or Department of Fish and Wildlife lands via your car or truck. So, if you walk, if you bicycle, if you canoe into a park, you don’t need a Discover Pass. So, if you, you know, live near a park, you don’t necessarily need to pay to access that park. You can just stroll in.
If you want to explore all over Washington, it’s a good pass to get. It’s only $30 a year. But, state parks separately from the Discovery Pass offers several discounted passes. Washington state residents can apply for these. Two of them are specifically for folks who are 62 or over.
We have the Senior Limited Income Pass, which is free to apply for and offers benefits like 50% discount on camping fees and free day use parking. It must be renewed every five years and you can find the application on our website.
We also have a senior off-season pass, which is something that you purchase every off season for $75. It’s valid from October through March the following year. And then weeknights in April. And it waives your camping fees, minus the $10 per night utility charge if you stay at a utility site. So free camping [and] if you stay at a utility site, $10 a night.
Seth
Wow. So, if I had an RV and I’m a retiree and I just want to go around the state and visit state parks, I could get one of these off-season passes for $75?
Ariel
$75 and the world is your oyster.
Seth
Wow, that’s pretty great. This is already raising more questions than we prepared for, but we’ll maybe come back to things like camp hosts and other things. I know retirees oftentimes, but we want to talk a little bit, maybe more about what everyone has access to.
And I know I frequently see in the news, like free days at state parks where I don’t need to have a Discover Pass. Could you tell us a little bit about when those free days usually are?
Ariel
Yeah, so we have 12 free days a year where you don’t need a Discover Pass to visit any of the Washington State managed recreation lands. They do change a little bit from year to year, but you can typically, expect them to come along on days like Veteran’s Day, Martin Luther King Junior Day. We follow the free fishing days that Fish and Wildlife puts on. The day after Thanksgiving is always a free day. New Year’s, January 1st, when we offer all of those first day hikes, fun activities in the parks with our Rangers.
You can find the free days on the Discover Pass website. Or you can call the State Parks Information Center at 360-902-8844, and our customer service team would be happy to let you know about all the upcoming free days.
Seth
That’s great. So, if you have a day off from work for a holiday, it might be a free day and you could spend that day at a park and so confirm what days are available if you don’t have a Discover Pass. But I strongly encourage people to have a Discover Pass in their car at all times. It makes it easy if you’re just road tripping, or traveling around the state, you want to pop into a state park and check it out.
So, I know one of the things I learned over COVID during the COVID time period, where I wanted to go do more camping and be outside more, is that there’s a reservation system for state parks, and oftentimes you have to plan these things well in advance.
Could you just talk a little bit about what that process looks like for reserving a campsite, or how far in advance you might need to, or that you can reserve sites?
Ariel
Yes. So, using our reservation system, you can reserve up to nine months in advance from the first day of your trip. And that is recommended for some of our more popular parks like Cape Disappointment and Deception Pass. But we have a lot of parks throughout the state, and you don’t necessarily need to be a nine month in advance planner to get into your summer getaways or springtime fall.
There’s openings, and I would say contact our state Parks information center to get help around finding those dates. If you’re running into a brick wall with not finding availability, we will help you find a park that meets your needs, what you like to do outside, and we’ll find you a reservation, we’ll find you a first-come, first-serve opportunity to make that wish come true.
You can make reservations online at washington.goingtocamp.com, or you can call our reservations office at 888-226-7390.
Seth
I’m impressed you’ve got all these numbers memorized. That’s great. It’s also great to know that there is that service where somebody can help you think about what might meet all your needs. If you’ve got a certain date range and you’re looking for certain activities, though I would say that the state parks website is great for that, helping you kind of do some research and think about “I’m looking for a place with a lake, or I’m looking for a place that’s near the beach or in the mountains.”
We haven’t talked too much about this yet, but one of the things I’ve been really amazed as I’ve done more research on state parks is there are all sorts of different accommodations. There are things like cabins and yurts and in different parks there are different amenities. Do you want to talk a little bit about that, and maybe some things that people might not be aware of with state parks that they should be aware of?
Ariel
Yeah. So, our yurts and cabins are probably some of my personal favorite features, because they really extend your camping season to be all year. They are, you know, small structures that have solid grounds, you know, a roof above your head, a little porch you can hang out on. They have heaters. There is electricity in there, comfortable furniture.
And they’re often located just in the campgrounds. So, you’re going to have the same experiences if you had reserved a campsite, but you have this nice little house that you can go into and be warm. Then you can have your picnic and your campfire all together.
We also have vacation houses, which are a little bit of a step up from just the more rustic cabins and yurts. These will have full restrooms and kitchens. They will, often have historic significance. We have, the lighthouse keepers residence at Cape Disappointment where you can go and stay where the lighthouse keepers lived. We have lakeside cottages. We have, vacation homes in old officers quarters and military hospitals and our historic forts, Fort Worden and Fort Flagler. Some really cool places.
We even have a fire lookout on Mount Spokane that you can hike into and stay at. So, we offer some really unique experiences. If you’re looking for something a little bit different that are also affordable.
Seth
One of the things I like about that is that I oftentimes think of the camping season as Memorial Day through Labor Day. You know, they’re just kind of the traditional summer. But state parks provide a lot of opportunity. It really should say state public lands in general, not just state parks, but they offer a lot of opportunities beyond just kind of your normal summer season that you’re thinking about.
Ariel
Absolutely. I just spent the weekend at Ike Kinswa State Park in Lewis County off of Highway 12 last weekend. And I stayed at a cabin, and I had a view of the lake all weekend, and it was pouring rain. But I was under the porch, and I had my camp chair, and I was cozy with a blanket. And it was a great weekend and I got to be outside in November.
Seth
Yeah, it’s, I think, something to think about when you’re trying to think of kind of cost effective ways to get away and decompress or be in nature. And the state park system in general provides a lot of opportunity.
I don’t want to put you too much on the spot here because it sounds like you visit a lot of state parks. You’re very familiar with the state park system, but do you have a couple of favorite parks and maybe parks that people don’t necessarily think about all the time, or parks that are maybe an easy day trip? Whatever city parks you’d like to promote.
Ariel
Absolutely. I have a lot of favorite state parks, and it’s getting harder and harder to choose. I would definitely recommend visiting Fort Ebey on Whidbey Island. The sunset with a backdrop of the Olympic Mountains is spectacular. They have a campground, day-use shelter that you could rent for the day, wonderful trail system.
One that you probably haven’t heard of is the Cle Elum Rail Yard that’s in Kittitas County. Once you cross over the Cascades, going east on I-90, and this is a interpretive historic site, so it’s just day-use. It connects up with our Palouse to Cascades Trail. So, you could do a more long distance or you could just stop for the day. But it goes over the, historic railroads that service the area and even has historic buildings that you can check out. Just kind of see what life was like at a different time. So I really like that park.
Seth
I lived in Kittitas County for seven years, and it’s not a place I ever visited, that state park, so I have to put it on the list.
Ariel
You definitely have to check it out.
Seth
Yeah, there’s so many. I’m a big fan of Millersylvania because it’s close and it’s, you know, as you said, sometimes you don’t even have to drive to a park. You can cycle into a park or run into a park.
As we were preparing for this, I was thinking about going through the list of all the state parks and the places I visited and Curlew Lake was not a place I ever expected to be like, so smitten with. But we had a campsite on the lake and watching people go in and out on their paddle boards, and it was just like, oh, a place I need to get back to.
Ariel
I actually have a coworker who was just going on and on about Curlew Lake this morning, and how much she is, anticipating her next trip. So there’s a lot of people who feel that way about Curlew Lake. It might be out of the way, but it’s worth the drive.
Seth
I think that’s the other thing to think about when you’re maybe trying to pick a park to go to is going to a place that is a little bit out of the way, or a place that you’re not as familiar with and exploring. I’m trying to remember if it was last summer, or the summer before, we went to Lake Conconully, the state park there, and ended up not staying there. We were just kind of driving through the area and went out of our way a little bit to visit that park. It was, yeah, beautiful area. There’s so many, wonderful, state parks.
We didn’t prep for this, but I do want to ask you about campground hosts. I think that’s something that oftentimes people think about in retirement or as you’re approaching retirement about: “I want to stay active. I want to get out and explore the state. I want to have some flexibility.” Is that something you feel like you can talk a little bit about, what it means to be a campground host?
Ariel
Yeah, so we have a pretty robust volunteer program. And part of that is the camp host program. Of course, you can volunteer in the parks just during the day to help out on projects, or you can volunteer to stay in the parks and be kind of an information hub for campers that, you know, you’d be staying in a site at the campground.
Those accommodations are provided for you. You get a full hookup site. You just need to have a trailer RV to bring, to live there. And then you help out with firewood sales. You help out with, letting folks know what trails would be of interest to them, when the kayak rental stand opens, things like that. And it’s very enjoyable for a lot of people.
And it’s not just for campgrounds. We also have marine hosts for our, for our docks and buoys. So, if you are a boater, you can host at one of our marine parks and you’d essentially be fulfilling the same role. You’re the person there that’s helping out all the other moorage visitors.
We also have, hosts for our interpretive and visitor centers. So essentially, our museums, like the Lewis & Clark Visitor Center at Cape Disappointment, the Goldendale Observatory, out in Goldendale. And then there’s the Ginkgo Petrified Forest, near Vantage. So, you know, lots of great opportunities for folks that love to learn and love to teach.
Seth
Can you tell me more about the Goldendale Observatory? It’s a place that has always fascinated me and I’ve driven through there a couple of times. The timing has never work to actually, like, visit the Observatory, but I’m curious. It feels like a very unique feature for a state park to have an observatory.
Ariel
It is very unique for a state park. There’s not a whole lot of public observatories in the nation. And so we do offer one of the few where folks can come in and kind of catch a glimpse of how people are studying the skies and the stars. We do, regular programing where you can go in and look through the telescope yourself.
They follow major celestial events so you can go and, you know, watch a meteor shower, things like that. And then the ranger that runs the observatory is incredibly knowledgeable. So, you are going to learn stuff from him. He knows all about that telescope, and he follows all of the events happening in the skies. And so, a lot of people leave that place and it’s an unforgettable experience for them.
We also have, a nearby campground at Brooks Memorial State Park that’s, convenient for you to stay at while you’re out there visiting the observatory.
Seth
Yeah, that makes sense. I was thinking about with the recent, northern light events. That would have been a wonderful place to [see]. Those are always a little bit challenging because it’s kind of last minute that, you know, like the day before that there’s going to be a big, northern light show. But if you happen to be in the Goldendale area, that could be a wonderful place to go out and observe from.
Ariel
Yeah, they hold several annual events. So, it’s definitely something to connect with our Parks Information Center about if you would like to know about upcoming events.
Seth
That’s awesome. So, I appreciate that you mentioned that folks can call the parks office if they have questions. Are there other places a person would go or do research to find a park that’s close to them, or to book a campsite? Could you remind us of the ways a person could do that?
Ariel
Yeah. So to book a campsite, you can go on to our reservations website at washington.goingtocamp.com, or you can call our reservations office at 888-226-7688.
Now, if you need help trip planning, that’s when you would want to call our Information Center. And I know I’ve already mentioned the phone number, but you can also email us at info cent, that’s InfoCent@parks.wa.gov and we’d be happy to answer your questions.
And then, for anybody who would rather just go online and peruse our website, parks.wa.gov is a really excellent website and it’s actually won several awards recently. It was completely revamped last October 2023. And it is much more accessible for, you know, everybody to use now and we’re very proud of it.
So please check out the website if you need any help navigating it, that’s when you call the Information center.
Seth
That’s great. Yeah, I think for our listeners, we really want folks to get out and explore the state, find things that they can do in a cost effective, frugal way. But it is really easy to just kind of know the parks that are around you. And the state parks website is really wonderful in helping you learn, as we said at the start, over 140 state parks in Washington.
It’s in some ways it’s a little overwhelming when you look at the whole list of all the different places you could go if you wanted to.
Ariel
It really can be a little overwhelming. Before I started working for state parks, I often felt that way was like, wow, there’s too many parks to choose from. But what’s cool about our new website is we included a search feature where you can search by, county. So you can choose the county that you live in or the counties that you know you’re going to be visiting, and then it’ll show you what parks are in those counties, which I find much more reasonable to navigate than the whole state.
Seth
Yeah. That’s true. Or just pick a county you’ve never been to before, or an area you might want to go explore. So that’s great. Ariel, I really appreciate that you take the time to come talk with us and our listeners about state parks. Thanks for joining us.
Ariel
It was great being here. Thanks.
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