Stuart Island Marine State Park Campground

We headed to here from Friday Harbor at the San Juan County launch. We came in through Reid Harbor and stayed on the left side in site 12 I believe. Whichever is the first site over there. You do have service for ATT, not strong everywhere but pretty good! They have pit toilets and potable water. We hiked to the schoolhouse and the lighthouse. It was about 5-5.5 miles round trip. Weather was pretty chilly at night but not unbearable. Raccoons are really bad! Put up all your food. Saw several deer while here too. Lots of wildlife… 2 harbor seals stayed in the harbor the whole weekend. Saw several bald eagles. Saw a river otter and several raccoons.

This is a non-motorized water vehicle campground. You have to paddle in to camp here. There are two sides to the campground, separated by a marshy area. We camped in a couple of sites at Prevost Harbor(we were a large group of 12) after hauling our kayaks up into the grass in expectation of a high tide. The vault toilet was clean and there was a composting area close to that. The campsites were large; we were able to fit 8 tents in two sites, and took over a third site for cooking and eating. You need to store your food bins well due to aggressive racoons(we wedged ours under the picnic table benches). There are some nice hiking trails, as long as you don’t mind a steep start, that take you up top to the ridge. Great views from up here.

I visit Stuart Island several times a summer. It's an easy paddle from Roche Harbor and the island I work on. There are eight-ish campsites on either side of the beach at the very end of Reid Harbor. Each side of the beach has a composting toilet. Up a steep set of stairs there is another set of campsites that connect over to Prevost Harbor. Be warned that the campsites fill up fast during the high season.

The best part of camping on Stuart Island is the walk up to the Turn Point Lighthouse. Along the way you can visit a small museum, the island's library, and an old one room schoolhouse. You also walk through damp forests, by an airstrip, and through farmland. Orca frequently pass by Turn Point so maybe you'll get lucky! The views over to Canada are gorgeous at sunset.

What an amazing place! There were docks to enter on both the Reid and Prevost Harbor sides of the Island (Reid is a safer anchorage spot, but has a smaller dock). There was also a beach for Kayakers and other "human powered" campers only. There were two toilets, one by the kayakers beach and one between the harbors, but both were primitive (see photos).

We loved hiking to the one room school houses and the "honor" store (see pictures). While we camped on the boat, we loved hiking around the park and would definitely come back...