Bottle Beach State Park

Thanks to a conservation campaign spearheaded by local activist Ruby Egbert and fellow birder Bob Morse in 1989, Bottle Beach State Park became Washington's first state park completely dedicated to the protection of bird habitat.

Today, Bottle Beach State Park is a modest, 75-acre preserve located on the southern shore of Grays Harbor roughly 14 miles from Aberdeen. The park is popular for bird watching, general wildlife viewing and casual hiking. From the parking area, a 0.6 mile trail and boardwalk leads past Redman Slough to the tidal flats and beach of Grays Harbor, with opportunities to stop at the park's two wildlife viewing shelters and large platform. With over a million migratory shorebirds stopping over annually, the park's trail has been designated an official Washington State Birding Trail by the Audubon Society.

Interestingly, the site was slated to be the primary deep-water port north of San Francisco at the end of the nineteenth century. Here at Ocosta, the Northern Pacific Railroad planned to create their Pacific Ocean terminus. Prospectors and investors followed suite, and soon the town of Ocosta was home to numerous hotels, three churches, a bank, post office, a school, a lumber company, and even its own brewery. Growing concerns over sedimentation along with financial challenges finally lead Tacoma, Washington to be the chosen terminus of the railway, and the economic promise of Ocosta quickly slipped away.