Penrose Point State Park

Nice but not great. Not crowded at all. Bathrooms and dog friendly. Tons of sand dollars for collecting.

Great spot for clam digging and oysters! Go at low tide and you’ll have no issues. We’ve even been when tide wasn’t low and were able to get our limit in clams and oysters. Make sure you’re prepared with a discover pass (or pay for a day pass) and the right gear for shucking oysters and digging. Bring your buckets (1 for each person) boots, gloves, and shovels! Gather your own food and have yourself an awesome meal!

It was so peaceful & relaxing. We were pretty much the only ones around & our dog had free reign to roam about. The beach area wasn’t ideql but you expect that in winter over here. The sun was out & it was a beautiful day to visit this fun park! Trails are good too!

Spent the Labor Day Weekend and we had a great time. Bathrooms were clean, staff was nice and helpful, beach was perfect, love being close to home, but out in the woods with fellow campers. We were lucky, they lifted the burn ban for fire rings the day we arrived so were able to have fires and all the memories that brings. Definitely would go again and again.

We went on a Thursday during a burn ban, so the campground was only about 10% full. Our tent pad (#67) was mossy, so it was a little softer than others we’ve used. I think we were the farthest camping site from the beach area – it took us 15 minutes walking the trail to get there. There are lots of trails in the camping area and none of them are marked, so it might be easier to walk on the roads (definitely easier to drive to the beach). You don’t have to pay for the $ 10 one-​day Discover Pass if you are camping. Some of the sites cost $ 25 (marked with an E for economy), some cost $ 30 (B for basic), and some are $ 35 (P for popular); they all looked similar to me. The bathrooms were clean, heated, had hand soap, and air dryers. The beach is rocky so it’s not comfortable to go barefoot. You need to use cash or a check for self-​check-​in.

TL;DR: Very buggy. Extremely dusty, dirty, mossy sites. Decent facilities, with a catch! And plenty of noise.
Longer version:
If you like to be itchy, this is the place for you! You should only need to scan your eyeballs left or right about 6 inches to spot a nice lazy mosquito within striking distance of your face. You will find yourself easily distracted while you try to listen to your friends around a fireless camp fire (burn ban), as mosquitos dance around their heads. They can’t see them, but it’s all you can focus on as you await their landing upon an unsuspecting ear or eyebrow. Repellent sprays, badger balms, and even the smoke snake coils — you’ll need them all, and you’ll still come home lumpy and itchy, guaranteed.
The beaches are quite calm and shallow and resemble more of a lake environment, save for the rocky shores. There is also a ton of thin and grassy seaweed everywhere so watch your step! The slime is slippery.
The hike is nice and long out to the Point, although most of it is completely forested. If you know you are walking parallel to the water, there is usually a thick wall of foliage to disrupt any chance you might have to peek a view. But green leaves are pretty and plentiful.
During our experience, there was absolutely no enforcement of quiet time. We had fireworks shot at 11:30 PM over our groggy heads loud enough to shake items in our car like a scene from Jurassic Park. They must have been shot off just feet from the «No Fireworks» signs found throughout the park. The exciting disruption of our sleep went on for at least 20 minutes (and no, it wasn’t the 4^th of July). And they weren’t firecrackers, either, heard during the Chinese New Year dragon dance. No, these sounded like cannons. We also had multiple loud parties near and far that were just loud enough that the conversations were fully understandable even with ear plugs shoved so deeply you could taste them. We wondered what the heck the Camp Hosts were for — chaperones? One of the loudest parties seemed to be coming right from their direction. Maybe they were clinking vodka shot glasses, too. Who knows? We didn’t go find out.
The bathrooms were clean for state park standards. But there were only 2 showers available on the entire site, and this site is pretty danged massive. The bathroom/​shower situation was bizarre, and felt poorly planned. When my son and I finished ours and we left the stall, the line was 7 people deep.
The park did offer a great 1 hour show from park rangers about bats which the kids found fascinating. I’ll say this — the kids simply loved the place, and for all the crap there were a ton of families with young children trying to enjoy themselves amongst drunken laughter. Whatever shortcomings we saw in vivid technicolor even with our eyes closed, we kept them to ourselves. They loved it. And it wasn’t the worst (cough-​cough Saltwater). But it was far from the best. At a place like this, you enjoy the company of your friends and family first and foremost. The site, however, is mostly worth forgetting when you compare it to some of the pure gems Washington has to offer.

Very cool camping site for those that are prepared to rough it (except for clean bathrooms and coin operated showers)!
The sites are mostly dirt and gravel, so bring padding or a mattress if you like sleeping on grass.
The trails are nice and plentiful for a weekend of hiking. The quiet hours start at 10pm… and they enforce it!
The beach is great and during the summer have volunteers collecting marine wild life for you to «pet.» Great for kids to learn about the coastal waters!

We did a family overnight camping trip and we came here because of the distance. It was only an hour away from Kent and it was a nice ride there. Although it was close to the city, it felt like we were far away. The campsites were located in a thick forest covered with trees which gave us plenty of privacy and shade. Tent pads were flat and the double site that we were in was roomy enough for 4 tents and a bug screen that went over one of the benches. Since we were there for only a day, we went to the park, flew kites and hung out by the beach. I wouldn’t mind going there again to do some hiking next time. The nice part was there were no bugs! I highly recommend this camp site if you want to do a quick getaway.

The camp staff have the worst attitudes and very bad customer service. I was treated so rudely and had to remind them that I paid them to be a guest there. I really hate any type of confrontation or drama but had no choice but to stick up for myself. Due to their incompetence I was sent to a campsite different than what I reserved. After I got to the site that I was told to go to they came and told me I was in the wrong number and when I said I was told by the other employee to go there (he even gave me a map and pointed out where I need to go) she said I was lying! She didn’t even hear my side or let me explain or show a receipt before she accused me of lying. She insisted that I move from the site because someone else reserved it. She ended up realizing I was not lying and was in fact right and that it was their fault so I didn’t have to move after all. I went through too much with them to even appreciate her finally agreeing with me. Also we had a large group of people and instead of kindly reminding us it was quiet hour another ranger came and pretty much yelled at us like a jerk and had the worst approach. I will never camp there again!

One of the best Washington parks. Clean, great trails, beautiful campsites and good for picnics. My family has been enjoying Penrose for generations.
I find the park less crowded than in the past, probably due to the park pass. The annual fee is the best deal at $ 30 and totally worth it. I recently visited with friends and their kids, and we all had a really good time, just like always.

I spent many years coming here as a kid and loved it. I remember great trails for riding bikes and friendly campers. Things still seem the same. I stayed one night and saw loads of kids biking around, families enjoying time together in the woods, and campfires.
As with any state park, there is a fair share of noise and crowds. There was a large group with huge RVs and a generator making a ruckus most of the evening, drinking and carrying on. To me this is expected, and the cost of convenience for a quick overnight in the woods close (ish) to home.
One complaint for this trip was dealing with the park’s staff. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, as everyone has bad days, but how hard is it to keep track of who is in what campsite? We’d arrived and been told to take whatever campsites are open on a first-​come-​first-​serve basis, then come back and let them know what we’d taken. When we came back they told us that campsite was taken and there was some confusion about us possibly having to move to a different spot. Mostly this can be chalked up to miscommunication and misunderstanding, but it would have been easily avoidable had staff been trained to deal with this type of thing beforehand. In the end they did work out the problem and we weren’t forced to switch spots, but the undo stress was an unwelcome beginning to what was meant to be a relaxing trip.
I was also a little displeased to see there was only 1 dumpster in the camping section, yet the park was 70−80% full. At the prices they are charging for an overnight stay, I would assume they can afford trash pickup. $ 35 a night for a picnic table and fire ring seems ridiculous. Half the park was closed for winter still, which meant limited selection of sights and overcrowding.
From my experiences, this park was one of the worst campgrounds I’ve stayed in, and charges a premium price. I understand this is because it’s close to civilization… supply & demand… yadda yadda. I would think the higher price would pay for some more conveniences, perhaps an earlier start to summer-​season trash collection and park amenities, etc. Instead more is charged and less is given. I only give the second star because of fond childhood memories and lingering hope that things might improve.