Cape Disappointment State Park

Shoshanna’s review is excellent. It really covers all the relevant issues and speaks for me and my experience. Non reserved camping options in July are limited in this area, and this campground was busy! I basically slept there, and after breaking camp, biked the (paved) Discovery trail from a trail head (Beard’s Hollow) within the park. It went to Long Beach so I had breakfast at the bakery there- maybe 8 miles each way. It was fun, but I just prefer fewer people and smaller campgrounds.

Cape Disappointment is a decent and huge state park on the southwest tip of Washington. It's not my favorite but it was conveniently located for my travels this summer. The first time passing through I scored a cancellation spot near the beach. The site was not very private but there were a few trees here and there between my neighbors. However the wild beach and the cool lighthouse on the cliff are just steps away. I'd say the few beachfront spots are probably worth a reservation if that is your preference.
My second time staying here I scored one of the first come first served campsites which surround a small lake near the entrance roads. These sites are definitely less desirable than the beach sites due to lack of privacy between the spots, which are basically on an expanse of lawn. AND - the traffic noise from the road was definitely very annoying. One huge plus to the lake side sites is that I had pretty good cell service from Verizon and Tmobile while there was absolutely no cell connection at the beach sites.
The bathrooms were pretty busy and not very clean but there were soooo many people using them so it's no fault of the staff I am sure. As far as I could tell all the lakeside sites share one bathroom building. Also my lakeside site was completely littered with trash but I think that was due to marauding raccoons and dumb campers who left their smores supplies out.
Cape Disappointment has a few hikes and interesting sights and there is a variety of wildlife to see. The nearby town of Ilwaco has a few cute restaurants at the marina and Long Beach is even cuter. If you want bigger grocery stores and such you'll have to drive to Astoria.
Be warned, during summer the campground is totally full. On Friday morning there were people waiting in line at the entrance at 6am.
Staff at the park was really really nice.

Check-in was busy, but moved quickly. It had been years since we've been here, we found that campsites 11-20 had been washed out by heavy surf and storms a few years back. The campground is nestled in-between the surrounding cliffs giving it a peaceful secluded atmosphere. Our site #32 was a scant 50 or so feet from the well maintained bathrooms and showers. We used the showers once on our last night in the park and found they did not take the tokens we had previously bought at Grayland, the cost was .50 cents for three min. Amazing how two people can actually shower in under three minutes..lol. The mosquitoes we're out in force during our stays, although our Lab seemed to attract them more than me. It did give us a chance to try out our Thermacell mosquito unit which worked amazingly well even with the slight breeze through our campsite. We enjoyed a visit to Long Beach and had our favorite clam chowder at Capt Bob's next to Marsh's ....a must have visit every time we come here. Lots of history and trails all around to explore.

Great park with tons to do. Multiple beaches, lots of hiking trails, and other walks to explore. We enjoyed the lighthouse and Lewis & Clark center.

Spacious, clean site, hookups worked great and the dump stations were in great shape compared those in to the Oregon State parks we visited.

No AT&T/Cricket service in the campground, but a signal can be found through most of the park.

Only complaint is the online reservation map is misleading. What shows as north on the map is not north in reality, so if you are trying to book a site by the ocean pay close attention to the compass rose orientation on booking.

We loved our site and met some nice people next to us but had run-ins with an older couple who was staying right next to the trailhead. They would sit out and make sure everyone was walking on the trail and not cutting through "their" site. My kids would have had to walk all the way around the circle to get to the trail so we walked along the trees that lined our group of sites and they did not like that. They got onto my daughter when she was alone but never said anything to me so I had to go talk to them. It soured our stay here for sure but we still had a great time with the neighbors who didn't mind anyone walking near their site. We even shared smores with them. You just never know who you will camp next to!

The beach was always windy even in July so bring a hoodie for sure! It was the coldest place we had been to so far on our PNW trip so we definitely had a campfire going! But it was a beautiful spot with the lighthouse so if we were ever in the area again we would come back.

The road getting there is very windy so big rigs have to go slow. And don't go the way Google maps tells you. It takes you to the entrance another way and its VERY tight for large rigs.

We also went to Astoria OR one day we were there and that was a super fun town to check out!

The attraction is that two lighthouses are located in the park. The park is quite popular and FHU sites will normal book out well in advance. Our site did not have any hook-ups and no cell reception. Good cell signal was available at the boat launch. Most campsites do not have convenient access to the beach but there are a few trails to the beach. The store/cafe had really good pizza and wonderful fresh seafood was available in town.

If I were to do it over, I think I would stay at Oregon’s Fort Stevens State Park on the south side of the Columbia instead of Cape Disappointment on the North. Oregon parks are just as nice or nicer, and their fees are about $10 less per night.

This is a very large state park with a lot of campsites to choose from! We pulled into the park in a rainstorm, and were unsure of the check in process so we grabbed a lakeside, dry camping spot ($20) for the first night and then moved over to the full hook-up spots the next morning ($37).

The lakeside spots are closer to the entrance, the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, and the interpretive center. We also got around 3 bars of boosted Verizon LTE there and the spot was pleasant enough. The sites are more open, close together, with just grass and a picnic table.

Having driven the hook-up spots (both full and W/E) we knew we wouldn't get any Verizon signal out there (another reason for camping by the lake), but the spots are a short walk from the beach and the sites are really pretty. There are concrete parking pads and trees to give a little more privacy between each spot. It was probably a 5-6 minute drive from the lakeside campsites. Sam just took the rest of the day off from work and we played on the beach!

Out at the hook-up spots we had very little to no Verizon signal at all.