I have fond memories of high school cross country races in this park and the loop is still a joy with the kids. The trails to the bunkers and down to the beach are great short jaunts with a huge payoff. We found gigantic mussels, sea cucumbers and chiton galore jumping across the rocky tide pools. Great stop to break up a longer drive to Neah Bay, Ozette, or Cape Flattery. Also a great little campground.

Three families, brought together by the desire to see water, exhaust our 9 year olds, get out of our cabin, and dodge hail/snow/rain bursts, hit the Salt Creek Recreation area. It was the right choice! 

We explored around the bunkers, beach and camp area. With only one brave winter camper in presence, we were able to run around and exclaim at all the cool big storm waves. We thought it was a perfect time to get loud, apologies solo winter camper if you thought you were getting the peaceful excursion of your dreams. We really did try to stay away from your site. 

The wind storm the night before had been pretty fierce and there was coastal flooding. We didn't let the kids step down onto any of the rocks or tide pool areas because it was just too dangerous. Even with that it was definitely worth the trip - lots of birds, one seal, and tons of cool viewpoints. 

Side note: if you like your small dogs/and children, really do keep a close watch and check the tide charts. We were there right before the high tide was coming in and some truly epic sneaker waves were coming up through the rocks. The kind of wave that makes you ooh and ahh and will absolutely knock you in to the rocky surf if you are not paying attention.

It was fairly normal beach activity in the stormy season, but worth repeating if it's your first time there. (If it helps I pictured my late father shaking his fist at us kids multiple times in our childhood when we didn't take ocean safety seriously. Great visual if you need to borrow it, just picture an old diver muttering about why his kids never listen and the ocean is a wicked mistress, and then make sure someone rolls their eyes to extend the lecture several more minutes for the full experience). 

Highly recommend this free park, easy access, gorgeous views. 

This park has a trail that breaks in sections, so you can either do the whole thing or just one piece. It has a cove, “eagle’s cove”and at least two WWII bunkers. The entire round trip is about 10 miles. The section to the cove is about 3 miles round trip.
I got to see many whales on my way back!

Love this trail. We hiked with family, including 4 kids, ages 10-12. We only went as far as the cove, where we spent a bunch of time looking at the tidepools and basically having fun. 

The trail overall is in good shape — there's one downed tree that you can go under or around. A few spots the trail is slightly slippery. 

The trail down to the cove is quite steep, but short. Once you hit the cove, some scrambling is required to get to the actual beach. At high tide, the beach might not be accessible. 

If you have time, there's also a great playground not far away at Salt Creek campground.

We went to Salt Creek Recreation Area for the tide pooling because we couldn’t go all the way to Cannon Beach for the outstanding tide pools there.  With that level of expectation, the pools at Salt Creek were disappointing.  The walk out to the pools was treacherous over the muscle-covered rocks, and there was not much variety in the pools once we got out there.  However, there was a moody feel to the Straits, the rocks, and the misty trees that was quite beautiful.  Once we adjusted our expectations, we enjoyed the experience for it’s uniqueness. It was a cool day and wearing a jacket on the beach was an awesome change for this recent Texas transplant.  The Salt Creek flows across the sand nearby and there is a little “island” you can explore at low tide.  The campground here is nice, so we made a reservation for one of the sites overlooking the water for mid-October.  Overall I’d say this is worth a trip, but wear sturdy shoes for that scrabble over the rocks.