On Presidents Day, the last day of our extended holiday weekend trip, we decided to drop by Griffiths-Priday State Park and hike along the Copalis River Spit on our way back home. This was definitely a highlight of our trip! The trail is a little hard to find, located next to/behind the picnic shelter, which is behind the bathrooms at the trailhead. We basically had a choose your own adventure hike, dropping down early from the dune path to Copalis Beach, and wandering along the beach all the way out to the tip of the spit. The tide was out, which really lets you see how flat and expansive the beaches are along here. At the junction of the Copalis River and the Pacific Ocean, there were plenty of seagulls looking for an easy meal; we marveled at the rapid waters and the formations along the sand. The beach is littered with razor clam shells and crabs, and plenty of driftwood and garbage! We played on some of the large tree root driftwood, traipsed through the dunes investigating the random ocean garbage washed ashore, and eventually made our way out to the waters edge on our hike back. It wasn't until we were within 0.5 miles of the trailhead that we encountered anyone else. At Copalis Beach again, we found the dune trail we had abandoned earlier and chose to follow it back to the trailhead. It's strange to see a small forest begin to grow in what used to be sand dunes and grass! Views of the ocean are frequent through the ferns and trees along this path. Definitely a peaceful and wonderful afternoon! 4.65 miles in just under 2 hours.

A short trail through the dunes along the river. The trail is overgrown in areas but easy to follow. Sadly, lots of trash in and along the waters edge. Beautiful ocean views, a great trail for kids. On a storm-watching trip to Moclips for our anniversary, we visited the three state parks in the area all in the same day; this one, Ocean City and Pacific Beach. None have miles and miles of trails, so they were quick visits to see the mighty Pacific.

WEAR SHOES IN THE GRASS/PICNIC AREA, and DO NOT let your dogs walk across the lawn! We were at this park last week, and had a great time at the beach. We had the entire park to ourselves. HOWEVER, the reason we think no one goes to this park is the thousands upon thousands of STICKERS in the grass/picnic area you have to cross before getting to the beach trail. We brought our two dogs and they could not take a single step without getting numerous stickers in their pads and between their toes. The are painful - and we got stuck many times ourselves removing the stickers from their paws. We finally gave up and carried our 70 and 75 lb. dogs across the grass to the sand. We had hundreds of those pesky stickers stuck to our shoes. The beach itself, however, was great.

This was such a peaceful place. I didn't want to leave. My dogs loved it