| Griffiths-Priday State Park is a 364-acre marine park with 8,316 feet of saltwater shoreline on the Pacific Ocean and 9,950 feet of freshwater shoreline on the Copalis River. The park extends from the beach through low dunes to the river, then north to the river's mouth. The Copalis Spit natural area, a designated wildlife refuge, is also part of the park. A boardwalk connects the dunes with the beach. Vehicle access to the beach is closed, due to road erosion. The park offers a shop/garage, restrooms, a pump house, a shelter with four picnic tables, two windscreens with three tables each, three pedestal grills, 10 picnic sites, a play field, a 37-car parking lot and three RV parking spaces. There is also a board walk through the dunes to the beach. The area can be reserved by a maximum of 200 people. Activities at the park include fishing, horseback riding, kite flying, canoeing, hiking, beach combing, razor clamming, and bird watching. The park owes its existence to Judge Griffiths, who in the late 1800s purchased the original 117 acres that he willed at his death to be made into a park for everyone's enjoyment. Griffiths stipulated that the park be named Griffiths-Priday Ocean State Park, a combination of his surname and the name of his foster parents who brought him to America from England as a child. |
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