The land lets go here onto a long surf-washed shore facing the open Strait of Juan de Fuca. A rare living dune ripples between the lot and the sand, and Deception Island stands alone offshore.
Gone are the tight channel walls — out here the land just lets go, and the whole western horizon opens onto the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is West Beach: a long, wide, surf-washed shore that takes the weather straight off the open water. No sheltered cove now. The waves actually break here, the wind has room to run, and that low green-gold ripple between the lot and the sand is something rare for this coast — a living dune, held together by beach grass and wildflowers that root down through loose sand the wind keeps trying to move. Look offshore to the west and you'll spot a low humped island standing alone in the channel: that's Deception Island. And if you're rolling through near the end of a clear day, slow down — this is the one west-facing beach in the park, which makes it the place the sun drops into the Strait. The water out front goes copper, then rose, then gone.