Reviews of Leadbetter Point State Park (Park)

Gabriel Garvin

Great if you can get out on the oyster beds

Stacy Mohondro

Such a great place!

Geoffrey Bracken

A fun relatively short hiking trail, the bay loop was great even with a bit of rain and wind. The grassy dunes between the forest and the beach are a must see.

Deb F

Clam Diggin'!

Wyrd Witchy

Beautiful

Mark Weathers

Great park for wildlife and wilderness. Took me about 3 and a half hours to do the full trail loop.

Janet Bates

Trails, a bit steep it you have knee issues, nice views.

Chrystal Cargill

This is a beautiful drive through the end of the peninsula. It is an excellent treat to see the beauty of nature.

Phil Lindsay

Epic beaches.

pegleg- rider

Cool place if you like nature and you like to go on nature walks or hikes.

Steven Halpain Sr

Amazing

Luke Worsham

Great trails, beautiful scenery, and a lot of mosquitoes.

Daniel Owen

Love it

Lisa Voeltz

Went clamming good spot

Benjamin

Beautiful park.

Salt Lamp

1 1/2 miles thru beach type sand, then thru a marsh with lots of flies and mosquito's! Wear long sleeves or bug spray. Pretty much the typical beach area here locally that you can go to without the hike.

SUSY Q Jordan

A must see!

Jenny Furniss

Warning - Bearberry Trail turns into a marsh. Not just near the bay, after you enter the forest, the water was too deep to continue. (We visited at the end of March.) Also there is poor signage on some trails - one trail connects that seems to lead out of state park area to Hines Marsh, flanked by a forest full of looping strangely marked paths. This state park has gorgeous scenery and wildlife (we saw porcupine, Eagles and a bear) but it really needs some TLC as far as maintaining the trails and improving signage.

Dan Hayward

Historical

Colleen Odell

Pristine nature, perfect hike. We hiked two of the Leadbetter Point trails on the afternoon of August 22, with temps in the low 60's and overcast sky. This was my 4th time at Leadbetter and 2nd attempt to complete the Bearberry Trail; we tried once before over Memorial Day but had to turn back about halfway through the forested part of the hike because the trail suddenly became impassable due to deep boggy water. This time, the trail was completely dry all the way across and made for a gorgeous hike through several types of ecosystems - sandy beach on the Willapa Bay side of the peninsula, then salt marsh leading to piney forest, then finally opening to sandy beach on the ocean side. Due to my earlier experiences at Leadbetter, we applied bug spray liberally before leaving the parking lot to fend off the huge and hungry mosquito hordes, but amazingly this day we didn't see a single mosquito! We did see quite a few fresh bear tracks on the bay side beach, but no actual bears. We saw one garter snake in the grassy portion between the bay and the forest. And, we saw only four other people on our entire hike. After reaching the ocean beach and seeing tons of birds, we headed south along the beach, staying well away of the clearly-marked protected Snowy Plover area. We found tons of whole sanddollars at the tideline without even really looking for them. The beachside hike south from the Bearberry trail to the Weather trail was shorter than I expected, maybe a mile or so along hardpacked sand, and the protected area is clearly marked with signage so it's easy to avoid. We were there at low-ish tide so there was plenty of space to walk between the ocean and the protected dune area. We saw no other people on our entire beach walk, which made the experience feel quite surreal. It was just us and the birds and the ocean. The oceanside entrance to the Weather trail was easy to find due to good signage and marking. We had only hiked a little way over the dune portion of the Weather trail from the beach toward the woodsy part of the trail when a small herd of four elk cows suddenly appeared over a ridge about 40 feet away and starred at us briefly before quickly moving away. I've seen plenty of wild elk in my life but never so close as to smell them and make direct eye contact! They seem SO much bigger up close in the wild than when you're looking at them over the distance of a meadow or from a car window on the highway. The intensity of the encounter honestly left me a little shaken but elated. The rest of the Weather trail back to the parking lot was beautiful, a little less wild than the Bearberry trail but completely pristine and lovely. The hardest parts of the hike were walking through the soft sand on the ocean side of both trails, and then the final section of the Weather trail which is uphill through a dune forest. Dry powder sand is always hard to walk in, but it's especially hard to walk in uphill. This was definitely the most physically taxing part of the hike, and our shins were aching the next day. Leadbetter Point is one of the most beautiful, pristine and remote-feeling places that is also easily accessible for casual hikers. We saw literally the same number of elk as humans during our leisurely 3-hour hike. Just prepare yourself with bug spray and a mindset of enjoying the beauty of nature for what it is. As others have said, there's not much to do here other than walk and hike - and that is plenty. And, be sure to buy your Washington State Park Discovery Pass before you come because there is nowhere in the park to buy it.

Megan H

Remote, but worth it if you want to be outside for the day. The easy 1.2 mi hike through the sparse dune forest to the bay is different than most of the terrain in the area, and there are always birds to watch along the bay. Parking lot to tbe beach can be denser and sometimes wet in the rainier season. The 3 mi denser dune forest loop is pretty flat and really interesting - lota of slugs and a few harmless snakes so watch you step! I love how varied and quiet and full of wildlife the place is, I've been enjoying year-round.

Maradi DeMars

Was a dead end nothing there

James Hiney

I only drove up and down the peninsula as a detour on a road trip from LA to Seattle. I read a mystery novel called CQ Ghost Ship, ( SOS at Midnight is another by the same author, the hero is a young ham radio operator. ) that took place at and around the point. The place lived up to my expectations as a remote and probably desolate place for a shipwreck to lie for decades.

Holly Slowan

We did the dune loop omg crazy with mosquitoes and be prepared to go under and over fallen branches the whole way!

Coop Kill

Love this place!

Sarah Rossman

We went at the end of a long dry summer, so didn't face the mosquitos that some other reviewers have. And pretty much the only thing there is to do here is hike/walk. But the hiking/walking is very pleasant! There's no single, spectacular thing at Ledbetter. There aren't waterfalls, or amazing trees, or particularly stunning beaches. But there different little local ecosystems to hike through, from mossy fairy-tale woods to paths skirting the edge of wetlands, to a sandy ocean beach with a nifty lighthouse, and they're all lovely and not too overrun.

FH dm9011646

this is where eddie veder wrote that song

Valentine Power

Our family took a short day hike here and ran into a few challenges that have us working a bit harder to get our full enjoyment of this park. First of all, the parking here is 'Fee based'. A Washington State "Discovery Pass" is required to park in any of the lots. However there is no kiosk to accept payments for day passes. There are daily and annual passes available at the "Cape Disappointment" ranger station at the other end of the peninsula, which would be an hour round trip. There may be other places to purchase a parking pass, closer, but we gave up at this point. Also, we did not want to risk the $100 parking ticket for not having a parking pass. We were able to purchase a Discovery Pass online, and had it ready for our next trip. There are provisions to post a hand written validation code on a piece of paper to put on your dash, in order to use the pass immediately. They mail the official pass to you around a week later. We visited in the late spring after a somewhat wet March, and had planned on taking the "Weather Beach" trail through the forest / dunes to get to the beach. We were able to make it around halfway there before the path turned into ankle deep puddles in the middle of a swamp. During the summer / dry season, I am sure that this path is dry and clear. However when we were there, it was a path several hundred yards of puddles and swamp. Unfortunately, we only had tennis shoes and weren't prepared to slog through to get to the beach. So next time, we will have our parking pass AND a set of tall boots. Then we will be able to get to the beach in search of the elusive sand dollar beds. Also.. There are lots of mosquitos, midges and biting flies here. Walk fast and use insect repellant.

helen townsend

Bring bugs spray... great walk. Saw Bald Eagle in beach....

Jetrin Wichienwidhtaya

Great hike. Went with my brother and my parents. Pretty easy if a bit long but there are many different routes you can take and the beach is really nice

George Scott

The beach hikes from the parking lot are the best. Roughly 4 miles of beach to hike where there is no driving and thus very few people. If you hike north to the point, it is very likely that you will not see anyone for the last couple of miles. If you can time your hike for low tide the tidal flats at the point are expansive, but when exploring keep track of the incoming tide. Note: There are white poles marking the Snowly Plover nesting area in the dunes. The plover is listed as endangered. This means one must stay down by the shoreline during nesting (Mar-Sept). I just completed the hike (Jul 2018) and the eagles are numerous. Not sure how this effects the snowy plover recovery? Noticed quite a few of lost crab pots from the winter season and sand dollars. Being alone on the point feels, how I would imagine it, to being on the moon (except for the sand dollars and driftwood). If you are not one to hike 8 miles round trip but want to see the leadbetter point for your self, it is possible to drive to the point during clam digs (but you will not be alone).

Rachel Moore

Gorgeous park and wildlife preserve. Trails can flood Oct-May. Wear boots!

Hailey Scott

Beautiful!

Kacie Dill

All trails are currently flooded

Amanda Marsh

Cute kid

Kevin Hoover

Great location to start extraordinary day hikes within this massive park. WARNING: there is no place to buy the Discovery Parking pass at the parking lot. They have no power at this location and no machine to buy permits, so be fore warned. Took the trail to the coast via the Dune Forest route, walked along the beach for a half mile to return via the longer northern route that ends up parallel to the bay (total of nearly 4 mile). We experienced many types of terrains from sand dunes to dense forest to fields of chest high grasses. Take the camera to capture some incredible images.

Amy Wachsmuth

Pretty, lots of wildlife. Trails are well groomed. Mosquitoes are thick though.

Jennifer D. Holmes

had fun teaching with the construction crew how to go razor clam digging after work. 2008

nabtogo

Raw nature. Watch for seals!

Suzanne Matanich

Good trails for hiking.

Michelle Root

Great trails! Beautiful beaches!

Qui D

Lots of mosquitoes. We ended up driving along long Beach instead. Good trails and nice view.

Duane Anderson

I took the Dune Trail (aka Red Trail) out of 2nd parking lot, started westward. Beautiful forest. Trail a bit dense in south section. Payoff is reaching Willapa Bay. I lost trail along beach, but made my way back to trailhead. just under 2 hours for this slow hike to do the 2.8 miles

Tammy Laird

Fun little hike

Lloyd Viles

Great walk

Wendy Murry

Beautiful 4 mikes from bay to beach and back through the forest makes for a diverse hike. I didn’t get any beach shots but we found about 15 sand dollars. Perfect Fall day hike!

A P

WARNING -- There is a severe mosquito problem here. They are huge and hungry. Additionally, the restroom is extremely filthy and beyond stinky.

Spencer R. Harn

Beautiful

Albert Snow

Beautiful

Emma Ehrenberg

Beautiful nature with very wild trails, flat/easy hikes, different loops with different lengths

Gary-Kathy M

Absolutely beautiful!

dimezreconB4

Paths over grown between the coast and the bay, but still beautiful and quiet. Mosquitos are pretty bad, so dress appropriately and lather on the deet.

Andrea Matzen

Beautiful

Jace Stenersen

One of the best places I've ever been to!!! The abundunce of birds and wildlife make it great for everyone

KURT GRUBENHOFF

Thanks for the memories

Jan Freeman

Oops!

Sasha Rehagen

Beautiful place. Fun little hike to the lighthouse.

Peggysue Spencer

Beautiful beautiful beautiful

David Sellards

Only go there if you like squadrons of hungry mosquitoes.

Lila Hayes

Lovely place to see wildlife. Especially birds

Rebecca Manlow

We love visiting Leadbetter. There are some good trails and a lot of beach that can be explored. Just be careful not to disturb the Sandpipers.

Ben Pihl

Plenty to explore in this place, great campground, trails, beach access, a lake, etc.

Scott S

Out for razor clams, nice drive out on the beach. easy to miss the road back from the beach when it's dark, use Google maps or mark your speedo.

Tye Churchwell

Seen 2 bears. Wonderful hiking trails.

Rob Joseph

I find it extremely off-putting to give or read a review of nature. I think it is hilarious (and kind of heartbreaking) that people gave this place 2 or 3 stars and complained about the place because it has mosquitoes. As though it were a fine-dining restaurant with rats. I look forward to the day that mosquitoes have their own internet and their own review sites. I think their review might go something like this: Leadbuzzer Point State Buzz: A magical place with life-giving water in abundance. On the east side there is a bay that is serene and beautiful with water gently lapping at grassy beaches being a perfect nesting ground to raise a family. Once your mosquito kids have reached a certain age, you'll want to buzz inland to the marshes where there is life sustaining food and shelter galore. Don't fly too far though! The ocean with it's unpleasant salted air is a 4 day flight across the peninsula. If you are a male, that's almost half your entire life!! If you do move inland, be warned, there are large mostly white hairless animals that flail around in the marshy areas. They yell words at nothing and swat at us as though we aren't supposed to live in our own home. Recently I lost 8 of my sisters who were just out trying to get a bite to eat. After they kill us they rudely troll us on the internet telling others that we are "the worst" and "would have given this place more stars if it weren't for the mosquitos" You can avoid these unsightly creatures by staying away from the areas where they have destroyed most vegetation. This place is actually really spectacular. It is full of wildlife and unique beauty. It quickly goes from bay beach to grasslands to forest to dunes to ocean beaches. It is one of the most tranquil ocean state parks that I have been to in the US. There are, of course, mosquitoes... because you are outside in nature near water.

Joseph Manchester

I is so nice there love the nice trees

Trampas Stubbs

Great time on the trails.

Grandpa's Garage

Blessings America 2017

George deWolfe

Beautiful...

David Russell

Awesome

Stewart Westphal

I made the trail to the ocean beach. It was low tide so the trail was just mushy. The beach and surrounding area was beautiful for nature watching and picture taking not particularly walking. The rainy season is about to start. Most of the …

A Google User

Somewhat out of the way but still a good nice hike. Depending on what time of the year you visit there can be large numbers of Blue Herons out on the tip of the spit. Bring your scope or binoculars for this one.

Cynthia Shaw MSW LICSW

The one-mile (plus a little more) walk/hike was perfect for us two rusty hikers. Gorgeous view of the low, low tide beach, a crisp, cool and refreshing rain forest stroll and the finish line reward of both red and blue Huckleberries made it …

EvaYvonne

Saw her of elk and several heron while on early morning hike!

carol colson

Calm and refreshing

Chris Tige

Peaceful place. Parts of the northern trail could have been better blazed. Bit disappointed there isn't an actual trail to the point.

Dannica Earl

A great place to spend some time. Beautiful area!

David Anderson

VERY long walk to the beach if you do the forest hike. And LOTS of mosquitoes.

Chad Baker

If you're thinking of hitting the trails- Bring. Bug. Spray. You've been warned.

Cannon Beach wind surfer Moreschi

Serene, panoramic, visually stunning: all these expletives describe what you will experience when you visit this beautiful Oasis of Nature at the end of Long Beach Peninsula. Don't forget to pack your Discover Pass.

Corrie Mick

The marshy parts were only ok, but still interesting to see. The walk out to the beach was quite nice, as was the beach itself. We had pretty much to ourselves with that beautiful, classic Pacific Northwest cloud cover. There were SO many …

Darrell Stewart

Beautiful beach, nice hiking trails to the beech. Trails could use some maintenance as some portions of the trail are overgrown. You'll probably want to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt and spray on some mosquito repellent. Don't let that scare you though. It's worth the hike and your time.

Dan Arnett

Learned lots and good exercises

Roland Fero

Another state park you have to pay to visit... Unbelievable! I didn't get to see the lighthouse cause you have to go online to buy a discovery pass, and I was there at 6:30am, which the park didn't open till 7am... Theodore Roosevelt must be turning in his grave!

dusty Spencer

Bugs are everywhere but beautiful

elengar

Good trails. Exit to the ocean. No dogs are allowed in the park. There is a parking lot there with a restroom. Discover pass is needed.

Neil Butler

The sun came out just in time for trip to the beach. The Weather Beach trail was totally flooded at the end and throughout. Several places were more than a foot deep across the path. A notice would have been helpful. Other than that, the experience was great and this park is one of the best for experiencing wildlife.

Ginger Lisenbury

Great place to take a hike down to the beach for some great beachcombing. Lots of sand dollars at this end of the peninsula

Chris Maxwell

Bird enthusiasts and moderate hikers would do well here. The lighthouse is the big draw. The park has virtually no facilities and nothing to see for the elderly or handicapped.

Peggy Lyons

Love it.

Patricia Neil

Unless you are a hiker this is not for you

Connie Neustel

Pretty place to watch the Ocean tide come into the bay. Lots of trails.

D. l. Zarb

Quick stop to let pup out and me to stretch.

Bryan Hermans

The very top of the Long Beach Peninsula is protected as both a state park and wildlife area. Away from all the development you can wander tide flats, forest, and shore to experience the unique habitat. I have been to many places but have not seen anything quite like this. Going east from the wide, low sloped Pacific beach it turns into grassy dunes, then wind battered coastal forest, then virtual rainforest, then almost jungle, to a sudden tide flat which is Willapa Bay. The cross section described is a mere 2 miles. Amazing.

Martin Nicolaus

A long drive to a remote area. Took the trail to Weather Beach on the coast. First bit is through soft sand with dune forest, most trees skinny and dead looking until almost near the top. Then it drops into semi-wetlands (in July) with lush vegetation and hungry mosquitoes. The beach is long, flat, and without eye-catching features such as rocks, tide pools, etc. Possibly other trails and spots are more interesting. Very good if you're looking for solitude, getting away from it all.