Illahee State Park

(written on March 14, 2018) 

Illahee State Park is nestled between Bremerton and Bainbridge Island ...  in Port Orchard Bay.

This is absolutely one of my favorite places to be.  You have a great view of Mount Rainier from the dock, you might see a ferry or two depending on how long you are hanging around and if you are looking at the beautiful sight of "The Mountain" as it's called here. 

Weather is determined on if you can see "The Mountain" or not...  "Oh look, the Mountain is out!"

No pictures of "The Mountain" for this entry though.

Illahee has both tent and RV camping sites on the 75-acre marine camping park.  There is 1,785 feet of saltwater frontage along with parking, bathroom facilities, access to the water.

The park also features a veterans' war memorial,  There is a small little totem area. There are also horseshoe pits, volleyball courts, a softball field.  There is also the opportunity for geocaching and metal detecting.  For those interested, there is bird watching and wildlife viewing (if you are lucky enough to be there at the right time!)  There are also plenty of un-sheltered picnic areas, a couple of sheltered picnic areas, and even kitchen shelters.

And on a hot day, if you dare, you can swim with the jellyfish!  I mean, if you want to live on the edge.

If you have a WA State Fishing License you can go saltwater fishing, clamming, oyster harvesting, crabbing, etc.

In order to go into any state park in Washington State, you should probably have a Discovery Pass, which costs about $30 for a year, or you can pop $10 per day in one of the pay stations located at (I think) all the parks.  DISCOVERY PASS WEBSITE

ILLAHEE PARK INFORMATION

On of my favorite parts of being at Illahee are the huge trees, but this is one of my favorite parts about Washington itself.  These aren't the BIGGEST trees I've seen but they are beautiful.  One of the things I like to joke about - being here in WA - and every time we go to Illahee - I feel the need to point out how moss grows on the north side of the trees does not apply here in Washington, at least here on the peninsula.  Moss literally grows all around the trees around here ...

Actually, moss doesn't only grow on the north side of trees, anyway, it just MOSTLY grows on the north side. Also, that rule only applies in the northern hemisphere... fun fact, in the southern hemisphere, moss mostly grows on the south sides of trees.

But this part has the last stand of old-growth timber in Kitsap County and also has one of the largest Yew trees in the nation.

And now that you learned something today!  Carry on ...

One of the fun and kind of scary things about Illahee is that in order to get down to the public access to the water, the docks, and the beach, you have to go down this long winding steep road ...

Now, the oysters and calms can get REALLY large around here.   As you can see by the first picture, I have rather big feet for a lady (size 9) ... and you can see the size compared to my foot.

If you want to show your kids something pretty cool and fun to see, as you are walking along the beach (and this goes for any beach along the saltwater in our area - I've done it a few times.) ...  turn larger rocks over and watch all the baby crabs disperse to find new hiding places.  Later on in one of the newer entries you'll see for Illahee, you'll see me do this in photos ... and it is something else.

People will go clamming/harvesting oysters and then shuck them and toss the shells back into the saltwater.

There are some gorgeous houses along the water front, this one I adore....

Here are some good to know information, and you can find this sign which clearly states what you can and can't harvest .... 

THIS IS SOMETHING WE WOULD RECOMMEND AND WE WOULD DEFINITELY GO HERE AGAIN (and we do).