Kopachuck State Park

Kopachuck occupies a small headland on the eastern shore of Carr Inlet, between Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula. The mile-long loop drops gently through second-growth Douglas fir, bigleaf maple, and cedar to a wide pebble beach. The walk is short enough to pair with a picnic; the beach itself is the real draw, with Cutts Island and Penrose Point visible across the inlet and Olympic peaks rising on a clear day.

The forest understory shows what a healthy Puget Sound lowland looks like — sword, horsetail, and licorice fern; salmonberry, salal, and red huckleberry. Spring brings salmonberry flowers, then trillium and bleeding heart along the path. Bald eagles and ospreys work the inlet through summer.

This is a family park, not a destination hike. The trail is short, the beach is gentle, and the park is well-developed with picnic tables and a campground nearby. The campground was reduced after a 2010 storm exposed root rot in the larger trees, but the day-use area remains fully open.