We went camping at Manchester State Park in Port Orchard, Washington
Hope you had a fantastic weekend! We did a weekend camping trip at, Manchester State Park in Port Orchard. We had a wonderful time and it was the perfect length of time for tent camping. The state of Washington is home to many great parks with many right under our noses. I’ve lived within 45 minutes away from Manchester and have never visited!
Even if you don’t choose to camp at Manchester, it is a great park to spend the day at. Just keep in mind you will either need a Discover Pass which is only $30 a year or $10 pass for the day, both you can buy at the ranger station.
The park itself features a saltwater beach with some sand, beautiful view of the Puget Sound and Bainbridge Island, with easy access. Plenty of picnic tables throughout the park, 2 small picnic shelters, 1 large picnic shelter, bbq pits, volleyball field, horseshoes, bring your own equipment. Manchester State Park has its origins as a fort established by the Coast Artillery Corps in the early 1900s, which the structures you can still walk through and reserve the old torpedo warehouse. The torpedo warehouse is very beautiful and would make the perfect wedding location! This park would be perfect year round, plenty of shade during summer but not covered in shade for during the colder times. 1.9 miles of hiking trails, easy enough for little ones.
Let’s talk about the campground now. The park has 35 tent spaces, 15 utility spaces, and two restrooms and showers and one group site. Reservations can be made 9 months in advance of selected date, May 15 – Sept 15. Campsites are available first come, first served between September 16 – May 14. During summer months especially during weekends you need to book in-advanced as they fill up quickly.
The grounds were kept very clean, the spaces are good size, even the sites that are in close proximity aren’t that close so you still have your privacy and it was fairly quiet. I was very impressed with the bathrooms, probably the cleanest campground bathrooms I’ve seen, shower(if you like to keep clean) and electrical plugin if you need to charge anything :)
The running water wasn’t a far walk from each site and a fire pit in each site and if the burn ban hasn’t went in effect then the fire pit has an attachable medal grate. Bikes, scooters, skateboards welcome. Short walking trails for campers only. Very pet friendly state park, we even brought our dog inside the bathroom with us and no one complained.
#50 is the onsite host, fire wood available for purchase. Small store at the rangers station with ice, coffee, Manchester State Park t-shirts and few more. All the staff and volunteers we ran into were very nice, helpful and friendly.
Camping and just being outdoors in general is so good for the soul, you’re just able to take a breather, surrounded by natural beauty.
We will definitely be back to Manchester State Park even if it’s just to play at the beach. What’s your favorite state park where you live? Let me know by leaving me a comment.
Tabitha, we love going camping at Cape Disappointment State Park on the coast. The park and campground sits on both the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. (You can get visit both beaches from within the park.) While we are currently “tenting it” we like to get the full RV campsite so we have power (my husband uses a CPAP) and water at the site. We do go camping at the ‘dry’ sites. (My husband has the adapter to power his CPAP with a deep-cycle battery.) We small-scale mineral prospect (a.k.a. gold mine) at Benson Beach (the Pacific Ocean beach there). Our four boys love to get dirty digging on the beach and I love the nice restrooms throughout the park. :-) ~Adrienne