illahee state park

Great paths and close to home it helps to help with $$ of travel to go hiking... best parkibg in 3 lots and trails galore.

Nice spot very close to the city to get away from the fast pace and traffic. The area is very clean and well maintained. Loved it there!

Hidden in east Bremerton is this little gem of a park, deep in a second growth, not old growth, forest, with a road and trails weaving down to a pier and shoreline. Though the road to the shoreline is steep, it's accessible to any RV, and there's good parking all about the park. It's shady. The gates close at night and though in the city, it seems quite secure. Quiet, slow paced, a wonderful place to come and relax.

The little brown sign for Illahee State Park was almost hidden behind a growth of fir trees as we drove along Sylvan Boulevard in Bremerton. We followed the directional arrows and swung into another of Washington State's hidden gem parks. Weaving through one of the last old-growth forests on the Kitsap Peninsula, we saw a wealth of campsites and picnic venues waiting for the visitors who have certainly been keeping this secret to themselves. We drove down a very steep drive of hairpin turns no RV should even think of trying, and came to a beachfront where we joined a scant handful of our fellow citizens who were taking advantage of a late-spring Monday afternoon.A few fishermen were enjoying the peace and quiet at the end of the pier while two other groups were busily working the beach, taking advantage of the low tide to harvest oysters. We parked and intended to stretch our legs with a brisk walk down the pier and back, but it didn't take long to be captivated by the show below us in the shallow waters of the bay. Crabs from the tiniest fingernail size to the size of a softball were zipping around like a video game gone wild, and we followed the action as the crabs got bigger in the deeper end of the pier. We saw starfish and schools of fingerling fishes, too small for the sportsmen's creel. There were boxy little crabs sidling sideways along the sand and startlingly agile crabs with small bodies and long, spidery legs dancing in and out of the kelp beds. There were plenty of bubbles showing where the bi-valves were busy trying to avoid predators of all sorts, for the shoreline was busy with gulls, herons and more than one eagle.The park has many accessible facilities, lots of camping and a beautiful view across to Bainbridge Island, along with beachcombing, hiking and that much sought after peace and quiet.