On Lopez Island, there are many options for beautiful hikes along sandy beaches, through quiet forests and over rocky bluffs with amazing views. For maps and updated information, also check out the Lopez Community Trails network at www.lopeztrails.org. As you explore these favorite parks and shorelines, be sure to Leave No Trace and obey all park signage. Thank you for helping protect and preserve the Islands for future generations.
San Juan County Parks provides beautiful shoreline parks on the ferry-served San Juan Islands. Campgrounds offer waterfront campsites, beach access & scenic views and accommodate tents and smaller RVs (no hook-ups; check for size restrictions) for a unique "island” experience. Restrooms, picnic tables, fire-rings, picnic shelters, boat ramps.
Odlin County Park is just one mile from the Lopez Island Ferry Landing and three miles from Lopez Village. This 80-acre waterfront park features 30 campsites, separate group camp, a lovely sandy beach, a boat launch, hiking trails, a full-sized ball field and several picnic areas. Enjoy a hike or eat lunch in the picnic pavilion. There is also seasonal water, (no sewer hook-ups) toilets, five mooring buoys, and a day use dock.
Spencer Spit State Park, on Lopez Island, is a 138-acre marine and camping park. The park is named for the lagoon-enclosing sand spit on which it rests. There are many sheltered and unsheltered picnic tables, and two miles of hiking trails. The park has a reputation for excellent crabbing and clamming. This is one of the few state parks in the San Juan Islands that is accessible by automobile.
Located on the south end of Lopez Island’s largest freshwater lake, 80-acre Hummel Lake Preserve boasts beautiful lakefront shoreline, a dock for fishing (but no swimming), and about a mile of trails through a second-growth forest that ends at Port Stanley Road. The preserve includes 1,450 feet of lakefront shoreline, wetland, meadow, forest, and habitat for many bird species.
Past Lopez Village on the island’s west side, Otis Perkins County Day Park sits on a slender spit in Fisherman Bay. Enjoy one of the longest beaches in the islands, and nearly a mile of waterfront to explore to the north of the parking area, with great views of the San Juan Channel and the distant shoreline of San Juan. It’s also a prime spot for watching float planes land and take off from the bay. If you’re a birder, the sheltered side of the shore, a salt marsh teeming with waterfowl, will keep your binoculars and spotting scope busy.
Shark Reef Sanctuary is a hidden gem, tucked away on the west side of the island, where a short 10-minute walk through a forest will lead to a rocky shoreline with stunning views over the water and an almost certain seal (and perhaps sea lion and otter) sighting.—just be sure to follow the path around to the left. Length: 1.0 miles, roundtrip. Elevation: Gain: 40 ft; Highest Point: 60 ft.
