Manchester State Park

Drove 3000 miles across the country to see family and friends. Stayed at Manchester for eight days and had Ranger Dick in our back pockets the whole time. The beach was disgusting. My grandson stepped in some muck and lost his shoes. Turns out it wasn’t just muck. It was obviously sewer and cleaning him up was beyond gross. I ended up just throwing away his pants, socks, and shoes! Friends and family were coming and going to visit and the state park system made a mint off entrance fees during our stay. Even if my 83 year old mother was just coming in to drop something off they hassled her (gave her a citation) for not parking in an «approved» location for less than 10 minutes. He told everyone who came in the evening that they needed to leave at «dusk» when the park closes at 10:00. He told us we could not leave or return to the park after 10:00 which made it very difficult to spend time with people we had not seen in years at their homes or our camp site. He intruded into our space for no reason just to «make sure» our dogs were on a leash. (They were.) If I wanted to stay with my mother I would have. We were not being noisy or disruptive and no one made any complaints about us (we asked). Should have stayed at Walmart. Not being able to have a camp fire was another downer but we understand the reason for that although our site was very damp and full of mosquitoes, and the wet blanket who kept dropping by would have taken care of any possibility of a fire mishap. Oh, and I’m having a hard time posting this because Internet reception is practically nonexistent.

I have never been camping here, but my wife and I go to the park frequently. There are a few nice trails and a couple of different spots along the water that have amazing views. On a sunny day, it is nice to sit on a bench by the water and watch the ferry go by.

We have been camping here for many years now. It was always such a nice local place to camp at.
It has now become a greedy money making joke. My Dad came to bring me and the kids some more firewood on Friday. They tried hard to charge him $ 10 to drive to our camp site!
He kindly refused. We had already paid $ 54 dollars for a non hook up site– 2 nights.
Even that seemed high– especially for non season camping.
So then Saturday my mom and stop brother stopped by to bring more firewood and some milk. They charged my mom $ 10 and my brother in law $ 10 (each in their own car) to stop and see us for less than an hour.
The rangers say one thing and then do another. I complained about an annoying barking dog.
They said they will have a ranger stop at the camp site with the dog. Never did.
I about died when I went to use the restroom. They must have used ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ bleach mix. It was toxic and very noxious. I opened the doors and windows.
The ranger said she would wash it down– never did.
I also mentioned I was concerned I had see no signs of life at the camping spot across from us the entire weekend we were there. The ranger asked if there were any lights on at night– I said no. The rangers did nothing to investigate it if all was ok.
I even buy start park plates to help out. The rangers knew this as well.
Yet– they are all greedy pigs just like the entire state with their fee’s, permits and BS.
Sad that the state has to destroy good ol family camping too.
CHANGE YOUR POLICY MANCHESTER– STOP RIPPING PEOPLE OFF.

Great park for camping if you just want to hang at your camp site. Located just outside of Port Orchard and Manchester, this campground is close to amenities if needed and far enough to feel off the beaten path. The campsites vary in size. There are spots for backpacker’s, tents, trailers, RV’s, small groups, and a large group site. Reservation are a must so plan ahead or keep your eye on the website for openings. We got lucky and got a last minute spot after someone canceled.
The spots are close together but there is enough underbrush to obscure the view of your neighbors. Kids can be heard playing around the park, which is good if you are a parent and like the youngster’s to feel independent but still monitored. There is electricity and water at the spots and comes in handy.
The bathrooms are close to all campsites, are well maintained, and have a shower. Bring your own hand soap to wash up as there isn’t any available.
There are a couple of hiking trails that are pretty easy to navigate. We brought our bikes and were disappointed that there weren’t many nearby trails. The beach at the park isn’t great. It was full of stinky seaweed and dead jellyfish. Off the hiking path there is a better beach, but it isn’t easy to get to.
Despite some dissatisfaction with some aspects of the park, it’s still ok. I recommend it if you want a close place to get away for the weekend. There were a lot of folks there and it felt very safe. Given the many other places to camp, we will likely go somewhere else next time.

I camped here for two nights with 4 adults and 8 kids. We had sites #21 and #22 which is a multiple site. It was great. Beautiful, lots of trees for privacy, good level ground for tents. We fit 5 tents at our site. There was still lots of room for our kids to run and play too. We were close to the bathrooms which had a token shower and was extremely clean although it didn’t have hand soap. There was plenty of little trails to walk along and a beautiful little beach area. The park map said there was swimming but it’s the puget sound so it was a rocky, seaweed covered beach and the water was ice cold. We were there on a weeknight so the place wasn’t packed and the few campers around us all observed the quiet hours. It rained on the second night all through the night but we had so much tree coverage that our tents didn’t get that wet and one of picnic tables was totally dry. My kids got a kick out of all of the chipmunks that kept running around. I will definitely come back to this park.

This park is actually quite nice. Since it’s a state park, of course you need to have the Discovery Pass or pay to park. There is massive amounts of parking in multiple lots so there shouldn’t be a problem with finding a spot. There are plenty of trails and camping grounds and the beach access is so unimpeded and open. They have barbeque spots and as you may see from the photos places to take wedding photos. It’s perfect for kids or to take a walk or go fishing or set crab pots or do a family reunion or cookouts. Read the signs though about all the warnings. No metal detectors. See list of fines in one of the photos. It’s super quiet out here so plenty of space and air to enjoy without some silly goose yappin.

I’m trying to convince a friend and her boyfriend that moving out to the peninsula isn’t a bad idea, and in doing so, I’ve decided to woo her one state park at a time (playing up to her love of nature — which north Seattle lacks a bit of!). We popped in to Manchester today to see what we could see, and to take advantage of the free entrance weekend in celebration of Veteran’s Day. There was practically no one else around when we arrived, which was nice for the peace and quiet.
The shoreline is really neat. I mean, it’s not any better than any other shoreline in a state park, but the amount of sea life we found was fantastic! Lion’s Mane jellies and Moon jellies, and even a little shrimpy type guy. Bald eagles were soaring above us en masse and it was just such a wonderful morning on probably one of the last beautiful days before the onslaught of late fall/​early winter weather.
Truth be told, after plodding around in the seaweed and rocks, we left for lunch, so we didn’t get to explore the rest of the park. Definitely a must when we return.
One fun highlight are the bactrian and dromedary camels located around the corner from the park over on Leighton Road. We missed the turn in to the park and our minds were blown as to why exactly a farm had camels out here. There’s even a little informational sign on the fence on Leighton Road. Just remember if you go that way that it’s someone’s home and they don’t want anyone feeding or pestering the camels. Be respectful of their area, but definitely go take a peek if you want to be able to say you saw some camels in the flesh.

I really hate to give any Washington State Park less than 5 stars, especially one as beautiful as Manchester, but their poor choice of staff leaves me no choice. On more than one occasion I’ve been treated rudely by park rangers here.
Most recently I was working in the area and wanted to make a quick stop to use the restroom and stretch my legs. Ranger at the booth (in a very snotty tone): «there’s a ten dollar entrance fee if you want to go into the park». This is *partly* correct: Washington State Parks now require a $ 10 per vehicle day use fee or a $ 30 annual Discovery Pass (which I do have, but it wasn’t in my possession at that time). The WA State Parks ALSO allow 15 minute FREE parking for exactly the purpose that I was here. Anyway, I didn’t argue with her because I could tell from her attitude that it was pointless, and besides I had had other bad experiences with the staff here in the past. I’ve also had a few great experiences during the off season when I didn’t run in to any surly or overzealous employees, and I would say it’s a great place to spend a few minutes or hours anytime but the summer.

Here for a wedding. It’s fine. It’s better than it’s 2 ½ star average if for no other reason than its historical significance. This has some old buildings that have been gutted and are now open for public use. They were formerly used for storing (sea) mines and torpedos back when there was a thought that the Puget Sound needed to be defended from foreign invaders (apparently just after the turn of the century (the last one not this one). You can still see the tracks that were used to transport the weapons from the structure down to the water. Pretty cool. It’s also right on the water (obviously, I suppose, given its historical context), which is pretty.
A-​OK.

Manchester State Park is kind of tucked away back in Port Orchard. It’s down a side road that you could easily miss if you’re not paying attention to the directions. There is a farm on the corner which has camels. That’s right, there are CAMELS in PORT ORCHARD! How cool is that!?! Ok, maybe I get too excited and it’s not really part of the park, but it’s awesome.
I have never been in the camping areas, so I can’t really comment on those, except for the fact they exist.
The main area of the park has some old buildings along it, which are pretty cool. If you walk back a bit too you can find an old fort. There are lots of picnic benches and BBQ areas here. They have bathrooms and a few different hiking trials. The park is situated right on the water front so you can get some great views and enjoy one of the many rocky beaches in WA.
I’ve been here a few times, but on the first kind of sunny day of 2011 the park wasn’t too crowded which was nice.