Deception Pass State Park

Such a beautiful place. Everyone told me the bridge was so high it was scary. I’ve been on higher bridges. The view was extraordinary though. Definitely worth a stop.

Deception Pass State Park is the starting point of the scenic isle roadway off the coastline of Washington. The towering bridge crossing gives you a wonderful view of Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands below. You can take photos from the edge of the bridge which is very scary or you can walk down steps to the beach and take photos looking up. Either way, the views are great! Deception Pass leads you to Oak Harbor, Coupeville, and a number of other small, quaint, Pacific Northwest island towns.

Our very favorite Washington State Park. Been coming here for over 40 years.
A diverse park with saltwater access, beach, freshwater lake, hiking, camping, fishing. Something for everybody.
Most of the campsites afford you some privacy between your neighbors, bathrooms are well maintained and clean.
Beware though if you are coming in a big rig. There are sites on the west side of the park that can accommodate 40′ motor homes, but it is very time consuming getting to them and into them. You really need to be articulated. :) I would suggest for larger set ups that you reserve a spot in the east side campground.

Wow, this place is amazing!!! Truly some of the BEST views I have ever seen in my life! Great place for hiking. You can do up to a mile or several miles which is what we did and had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect so we hiked all day. I will come back many times for sure. We saw several Osprey flying around and a few Otter, how great is that?! Love this place!

Picturesque and very photogenic. Pleasant easy trails to driftwood strewn beaches. Fun for the entire family and very peaceful.

Right off crazy-​busy State Route 20 is a gem of a tourist mecca called the Deception Pass State Park and Bridge. You’d be lucky as heck to find parking anywhere near the bridge, especially the «free» parts where you don’t need to pay $ 10 for the one-​day pass. Even the paid parking lot was always jammed with cars and you had to wait for someone to leave and it was a relatively small lot for the amount of people visiting this place day in and day out.
A walk on the bridge is an interesting experience as it is very narrow and also famous for this fact. Do not attempt if you are claustrophobic or annoyed at strange people rubbing up against you as this a common occurrence. I thought I was smart by going out at 9 PM to view the sunset… surely it must be empty? BZZZT. Nope. Busy as hell but at least I got free parking in the free section.
Stairways lead you either to the other side of the bridge or down to the beach. We attempted to go down to the beach at 930 PM because it was still light out but the light was fading fast. I could only imagine what this place looks like on a full moon night… will someone PLEASE post a photo on Unilocal???
If you are startled easily, wear ear plugs while you attempt to take photos on the bridge as it is apparently funny for some locals to screetch and yell to startle tourists snapping photos so you’ll drop your camera into the raging rip tides some hundreds of feet below you. It happened to me but they were not successful, thankfully.

We went camping here at the Bowman Bay. The campsite we had wasn’t private feeling, but it was still a great time had by all. We will definitely come back here. The hikes are really beautiful with breathtaking views. One hike took us to tide pools, another to a private cove. We saw all kinds of wildlife. Seals, bunnies, squirrels, bald eagles, and tons of other birds. At night, you hear the waves. Loved it!

Even the employees are happy to work here. Such an amazing adventure. Miles of trails and beaches. Perfect place to share with friends from around the world. The trees are amazingly huge and it’s super duper green! Love hiking and can’t wait to do it again!

It’s such a beautiful view, on one end there’s a flight of steps that can get you closer to the water. It’s hard to be there and think it’s bad lighting, so bring a camera and hold onto it tightly… It’s a LONG drop to the water. You’ll see boats, maybe a food cart, pamphlets about the local touristy stuff, tourists from far away places and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet some of the local history buffs that live to tell you stories about the darker side of this site. The men’s bathroom has hopefully had some work, cause according to my travel companions, there’s a glory hole, I’m not going to explain. Enjoy the bridge and park. Hopefully you remember your camera, don’t wind up with a picture-​less review like mine!

I had my family in town last week and we decided to visit Deception Pass State Park for the first time after the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon.
We went along Route 20 and decided to park in a lot right after we passed the bridge. This was when Discover Pass came in handy. You either need to pay $ 10 for a daiy pass to park (or if you have Discover Pass for $ 30 and valid for 1 year, you can park there as well).
We decided to take a short trail called West Beach down from the parking lot. It was relatively easy and with pretty scenery to look at. My family (who never lived in PNW) were amazed at how pretty the scenery was. The trail took us down to the beach that on the right side has a view of the bridge and on your left side, you have a view of the whole Puget Sound water. Luckily we were there on a weekday afternoon, so it wasn’t crowded at all (there were just 15 people max (8 of them were us!). The area also had some tables to sit/​set up a picnic. You can also walk along the beach (wasn’t too much of a distance, but definitely more serene than what Alki Beach or Golden Gardens State Park have to offer). My 3.5 years old nephew had so much fun throwing the rocks into the water, seeing how far the rocks could go.
Overall, the scenery was beautiful. It was a bit further away from Seattle and not many other things to see around the area. However, if you are already around that area (e.g. up north or already traveling from a nearby place like Mount Vernon like what we did), this is definitely a park you could make a 1 – 2 hours stop. The trail we took (West Beach trail) was just 0.9 miles and very doable. Our 3.5 years old nephew walked all the way down to the beach and back up the parking spot right after the bridge, all by himself. Beware that the place may get crowded on the weekend and in the summer though. so you may not get a serene feeling of a place like we did when we visited on a spring afternoon on a weekday.

Absolutely Beautiful! We went on a pretty windy Friday afternoon and there were no pesky tourists so we were able to get tons of beautiful pics of my baby!

Any state park where you can camp with an ocean view is pretty awesome. Spots for summer weekends fill up fast so book early. Facilities are average, but camp spots are good size. You will be close to your neighbors so watch the noise. Be sure to take one of the beach hikes, boat tour or drive over the scenic bridge.

Met some friends here for some hiking. Wow, this place was very cool! We only had a few hours to spare so we only hiked one trail.
Deception Pass is a very fitting name. Our friends kept leading us in circles because the trail was very deceptive! It was the most fun that I’ve had getting lost. We found some amazing spots for picture taking and got great exercise.
Oh how I wish we had more time to explore Deception Pass State Park. So much to see, but too little time. Great investment for $ 10 Discover Pass parking.
It is only about a 90 minute drive north from Seattle. Makes for a nice little day trip. Also it is on the way to the San Juan Islands.
Highly recommend checking them out for some exercise and some breathtaking views!

Total ZEN!
This is one of my favorite places in the Pacific Northwest. Pack a lunch, and take a day to explore. There are lots of trails, and the water is not like any I’ve seen before. There is a lot of mystery in this park.
If you are brave enough, walk the bridge. I made about 30 feet and had to turn around.

It’s likely called Deception Park because it’s much smaller than it looks on a map, and all trails lead to the entrance.. And that’s not a complaint. You will never get lost. It’s perfect for families or a BBQ day. A good trail to introduce kids to that doesn’t have steep inclines (unless you go on the rocks near the water, of course). It’s a beautiful spot that offers a little something for outdoor enthusiasts.

I am only giving this a 3 for a couple of reasons. I reserved a spot for our trailer 3 months in advance. We came 2 hours after checkin time and someone else was set up in our spot. They were told to go pick a spot, set up then register. We could have made them pack up and move but that’s such a hassle. My friends had the same thing happen. Just a word of warning they don’t honor their reservations. Also near a Navy base so Navy Jets flying overhead till midnight.
Positives beautiful place on Puget Sound.

Completely gorgeous place to see! You must visit it if you’re in the area or live here!
The views can’t be beat, anytime of day. The water is mesmerizing.
There are tons of trails through the woods. The beaches are all beautiful with great sand and huge rocks that the surf crashes into.
The view from the bridge can’t be beat.

It’s a supremely majestic place to check out if you’re in the area. Visiting family in Anacortes, this was our first stop in our sightseeing ventures.
The trails were fairly easy, winding through the fern-​lined forest of moss-​covered trees. We walked the Goose Rock Summit trail, stopping frequently to look at things, and got up there in under 30 minutes. The summit was nice, but not as great as the view from the bridge.
Signs all along the trail kept warning to not walk on the «balds,» bedrock laid bare after the ice receded 11,000 years ago. It warned that careless steps on these areas could wipe out what little growth has managed to occur in that time. Of course, you get up to the summit and everyone’s walking all over it, stepping over the wood perimeter, since the balds are right on the edge and the hikers all want to see the view from them.
Back at the bridge, we saw a bald eagle flying under it, along the swift-​moving current. Not sure if it was fishing, but it was beautiful to behold.
If you want to avoid the $ 10 day pass, you can always park on the Fidalgo Island side and walk across the bridge. Do remember to use the underpasses, though. We kept seeing people trying to run across and try to jump the barriers and nearly getting taken out by 18-​wheelers speeding down the way. Darwinism in action, folks.

I’ve been here one other time just as a day trip, but this time around, I came here to camp on their campgrounds and I will say, I’m sad we didn’t stay longer!
First off, this place is just gorgeous all around. We’ve been to a couple of different spots between this trip and our previous one, and there’s always a great view. I’m the type that loves to just soak everything in when you’re in spots like this, and I could be here for hours.
On to the campsite. I couldn’t tell you the cost of our site, as it was reserved by someone else in our party, but I will say I ours was kept pretty neat. Granted, my husband and I have a fairly large tent, so it was a little difficult to accomadate it for our lot, but we made it work. Our site (#206, represent! :)) was very close to the restrooms, which I noticed were very well kept. Besides the typical piece of toilet paper fallen on the ground, it was clean and there was also a shower which is nice if you’ve done a bit of swimming.
The nice thing too is I don’t feel this is a terribly far drive. Not too far, but it’s far enough :) Definitely planning on coming back here!

Beautiful. The hiking trails are kept pretty clean. This is surprising considering the amount of foot traffic there is. There’s even an area for campers and crabbers and fishers. I believe the camp site gets booked every summer so jump on that if that’s your thing. I love the nature, but prefer to go home and sleep in my comfy bed at night. Not much elevation on the hikes, but still a nice few miles of strolling the trails through the trees and around the cliffs. Even saw a couple of orca whales swimming along the way. That’s not something you see every day.
Kid friendly. Minimal mosquitos, but lots of sand flies. This park requires a Discovery Pass.