Hi, I'm Eric.

I’m an avid world traveler, photographer, software developer, and digital storyteller.

I help implement the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe.

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81
Ocean City State Park
81

Ocean City State Park

north of Ocean Shores, Washington
visited 9 January 2022
Back to parks list

For my first park of the new year, I went to the coast on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Ocean City State Park is nestled in an unassuming part of the coast just north of the city for which it is named.

There are campsites (many of which were either flooded or closed for the season) and a lot of sandy beach.

A wide, flat sandy beach at low tide under a deep blue cloudless sky, with a shallow winding channel of water snaking across dark tidal flats toward the distant surf line of the ocean.
A close-up of wet beach sand showing intricate rippled patterns and swirling textures left by receding water, with a patch of dry, granular gray sand in the lower right corner.
Bird tracks pressed into smooth, pale gray beach sand, showing the three-toed prints crossing diagonally with faint ripple marks in the sand.
A single dried reddish-brown leaf curled on rippled gray beach sand, casting a shadow, with a small trail of sand carved by wind behind it and a few scattered bits of debris and pockmarks in the surrounding flat sand.
Rippled patterns in wet beach sand at low tide, with the damp textured surface shifting from cooler bluish tones reflecting the sky in the upper area to warm tan sand in the foreground.
A wide, wet sand beach at low tide with rippled patterns and shallow water reflecting a clear deep-blue sky, with lines of white surf breaking on the ocean along the flat horizon.
Golden dune grass, dry and pale in winter, fills the foreground below a broad expanse of deep blue sky, with a thin strip of ocean and beach visible along the horizon at Ocean City State Park.

Getting to this beach in the rainy season can mean getting your boots wet. This first creekbed is also the main hiking trail into the beach.

A muddy, waterlogged trail with tire tracks winding through scrubby coastal woodland under a deep blue sky, flanked by bare winter trees and low green evergreens at Ocean City State Park. Puddles of standing water reflect the surrounding branches and sky.
A muddy trail with a puddle winds uphill through golden dune grasses and low shrubs, flanked by evergreen pines and bushes under a clear deep-blue sky at Ocean City State Park.
A dirt footpath winds through tall golden dune grass flanked by dense green shore pines under a deep blue sky at Ocean City State Park.
A wide panoramic view of coastal dune landscape with tall, golden dry grasses and low green shrubs and pines stretching to the horizon under a deep blue, near-cloudless sky. The photographer’s long triangular shadow falls across the grass in the foreground.
A muddy, water-filled path winds through coastal dunes covered in bright green grass and taller golden dune grass, leading toward the ocean visible on the horizon under a deep blue sky. A weathered gray driftwood log lies in the grass on the right side of the path.
A narrow tidal creek winds through golden dune grasses beneath a clear deep-blue sky, with the ocean visible on the far horizon at Ocean City State Park.

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