Dungeness Spit

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Length: 11.7 miles / 18.8 km

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Overview: First things first: this is an epically long hike on sand. It doesn't appear to be so bad from the start, but the spit is deceptively long.

That said, it's a great way to spend a nice day. The nice part is that you can turn back at any point, there are no monumental landmarks along the way that you'll miss if you don't make the end.

That doesn't mean there is nothing to see, however. The beach is a combination of fine sand and large cobbles - with enough variation in color and composition to keep it interesting. There are plenty of cairns constructed, seemingly, just for the sake of building cairns.

The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and Dungeness Bay provide a sheltered area for thousands of seabirds and waterfowl, be sure to bring your guidebook to identify them.

And, as always, the flotsam of the Pacific Ocean is washed up onshore - including unique beach glass and fishing floats among the ubiquitous plastic shards.

Points of Interest

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Fee Station

A couple dollars saves you from the chance of a $100+ ticket...

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Park Office and Museum

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Open Beach

For the first 0.25 mile, both sides of the spit are open to travel. There is a large vertical telephone pole at the 0.25 mile mark - after which the inner side of the spit (that facing the bay, not the open ocean) is closed to travel to protect nesting areas.

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Huge Driftwood

Some of the logs washed up on the beach here are enormous. This one was buried several feet deep, but other large logs are precariously balanced at the back of the beach.