Millersylvania State Park, Washington - July 26th to 28th, 2024

Millersylvania State Park was our favorite state park in Washington. It wasn’t that the state park had anything spectacular to see or do, but it had a lot of different activities available along with a very welcoming atmosphere.

Friday was a short travel day, but we turned it into a long day of exploration. Millersylvania State Park, the campground we were staying in Friday night was only a 45 minute drive from Potlatch State Park, where we stayed Thursday night. Millersylvania was just outside the city of Olympia, so we spent most of the day in the city. We covered Olympia in our previous post (Olympia, Washington - July 26th, 2024).

Millerslyvania State Park was only a 20 minute drive from Olympia. We reached our campground before 5 pm. At the check in booth, we spotted a sign listing the Lakeside Tap House hours. There’s a tap house here? Cool!

By the time we set up camp, we didn’t feel like cooking. We looked up the tap house. They served pizza. Great! But where is it? Google Maps showed it located back by the Welcome Station, but we didn’t recall seeing it there. So we walked back to the Welcome Station to ask. It turns out it was down near the first swimming area, near the Kitchen #2 picnic shelter. As we walked back down the road, we could then see the signs pointing us to the tap hose. We didn’t see them as we walked to the Welcome Station, because the signs were faced the other way, for those driving into the park.

The Lakeside Tap House was wonderful. It is a small log cabin with outdoor seating, a combination of picnic tables and Adirondack chairs. The only food they serve is wood-fired pizza. There are not a lot of toppings to choose from, mainly different meats (chicken, pepperoni, bacon, and Canadian bacon) and either tomato sauce or ranch sauce.

All the pizzas were 12 inches in diameter. We weren’t sure if splitting one would be enough food, so we got an order of garlic cheese bread along with our pepperoni pizza. To wash all the food down, Keith had the Chuckanut Pilsner while Ann had the Yonder Palisades Blackberry Sage Cider. Everything was delicious.

We started out Saturday by driving over to Lattin’s Country Cider Mill and Farm. It is only five miles from Millersylvania State Park. We thought about riding our bikes over there, but the road that the state park is on has no shoulders and the speed limit is 50 mph. After Ann’s close call in Crooked River (Crooked River, Oregon - June 19th to 22nd, 2024), we are a little shy about taking those kind of safety risks.

The farm was cute. In addition to the produce store and bakery, there were animals to see. There were peacocks, guinea pigs, bunnies, and more. One of the peacocks had his feathers in full display, trying to impress a couple of the hens, but they were ignoring him.

We bought a half gallon of cider, half a dozen cider donuts, and an apple fritter. We hauled our goodies back to the park and sat on a picnic table near the swim beach to enjoy them. The baked goods were very flavorful. The apple fritter was still warm. Yum!

At 10 am, we had no problem finding a parking spot in the day use area near the boat ramp and second swim beach. We hung out there most of the day. By mid-afternoon, the parking lot was pretty full. It was a beautiful Sunday and everyone was there to enjoy it. Both of the swim beaches were swarming with families.

Plenty of people were out paddling on the lake, or at least floating around on their paddle boards. Others were fishing out in boats or along the docks and shoreline. Boat rentals were available, included pedal boats which seemed to be popular with the kids. The snack bar near the boat ramp had a line most of the day, as people waited to order their ice cream. It was a very happening place.

After lunch, Ann got out her paddle board (paid link) and joined the other boaters on the lake. The lake only allowed hand-carried boats and had a speed limit of 5 mph. That meant that most boats were paddled or rowed, but she did see one small boat with an electric motor. That also meant that the water was pretty calm, perfect for standing up on the board. Ann spent about an hour paddling around the lake a couple of times before heading back in.

While the paddle board was drying, we both took the opportunity to take showers. Have we ever mentioned that we like having everything with us? It is nice to be able to take a shower anywhere, including a parking lot.

After our showers, we got in line for ice cream. Thankfully, we ordered only single scoops. They were huge. We’re not sure how two scoops could be any larger as it seemed like the waffle cones couldn’t hold much more than the gigantic single scoop. Ann, predictably, had the Death by Chocolate, while Keith didn’t have vanilla. He had the regular chocolate. Such a daring guy! Both were very refreshing, although it was a struggle to finish them without making a mess. As the ice cream started to melt and Ann’s cone developed some cracks, her cone started to fall apart. But we managed to only get our fingers sticky, with no drips reaching the picnic table.

After packing up the paddle board, we headed back to our camp site to make dinner. We weren’t all that hungry due to all of the food we had consumed in the previous 24 hours. However, we did walk over to the Lakeside Tap House again, this time just for drinks. While Keith had a pilsner, Ann tried the Italian soda. The menu said Italian soda, but it was really an Italian creme soda. She’s never had either one before. The syrup is mixed with seltzer and cream. The Tap House added whipped cream on top. Ann had the mango flavor. It was very tasty and not too sweet.

Sunday we stayed inside the state park. It was overcast and cooler, with highs only in the 60’s. There are quite a few hiking trails, so we went for a hike. The route we picked out was the Perimeter and Maple Hollow Loop from AllTrails. It was a pleasant hike. We cut the hike a little short, cutting across on a middle trail instead of making the full perimeter loop. Keith had a corn on his foot that was bothering him.

We still covered almost five miles with an elevation gain of 194 feet which we completed in two hours. It was hike 41 of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024. We ended up at the Lakeside Tap House for drinks and a garlic cheese bread. We really weren’t that hungry, but Keith loved their garlic cheese bread that we had on Friday, so we had to get it again.

The park was quieter on Sunday. Most of the locals who were camping for the weekend had left. The weather probably kept many of the day users away. But there were a few brave souls in and on the water. Trail running seemed to be popular here. We passed quite a few runners while we were on the trail, along with some mountain bikers.

The handle on our bathroom door cracked, so Keith fixed it. He squeezed a bead of super glue along the crack, then sprinkled a liberal amount of baking soda on top. The baking soda causes super glue to cure faster and allowed him to push the glue into the crack with his finger, without getting glue on his hands. It didn’t take long and our bathroom door handle was back in business.

Millersylvania State park has generous camp sites, plenty of hiking and biking trails, a lake to swim in or paddle on, and a tap house with food and beverages. It is easy to see why the park is so popular. The only negative is that the place is not a secret, so you will not be enjoying it by yourself. If you’re looking for solitude and wilderness all to yourself, this is probably not the place. But all of the people visiting the park brought a nice energy to the place.

Check out our related video: Millersylvania State Park, Washington

(Ann)