Beautiful! Stunning! Read the signs, lots of info about stuff! Who knew?! A female bat can eat 600 insects in an hour. Can you imagine if we didn’t have bats? WHOA! Also saw 30 plus herein (blue) sunbathing all casual like. Check it out or don’t.

A beautiful walk, with great views. You need a discovery pass at the parking

One of the best kept hiking and paddling secrets in the area. Beautiful trails, lots of wildlife and birds, incredible views at the end, and a perfect spot to put in a kayak during summer. We saw tons of seals and cormorants from our kayaks and found a little spot to beach ourselves for a water break. Definitely worth a visit any time of year.

Nice easy walk if you take the road or if you want a short hike, take the loop trail. Gorgeous Woodard bay with barking seals and bird life await you whichever path you choose. Abundant picnic tables, but only a port a potty bathroom. Still a nice spot for a picnic or some nature therapy.

Trails are very well maintained and easy to navigate. Many different viewpoints to look out over, and is a great place to walk about for a few hours. Information boards scattered along the trails provide good information and reveal the rich history of the area. Chehalis Western Trail is easily accessible from this location, being just up the road. Overall definitely worth a visit if you have your Discover Pass.

One of my favorite parks in Thurston County. Sometimes we bike the Chehalis Western Trail to get here (be sure to bring a lock since bikes themselves aren't allowed on the Woodard Bay trail), other times we drive & bring our kayaks! The trails are wonderful any time of the year, but the water is the best in summer- we like to paddle out in the evening against the incoming tide in Henderson inlet then head west around the point and into Chapman inlet. As you leave Henderson inlet you'll pass the cormorant rookery on the right, and sometimes you'll see seals on the old train trestle as you head into Chapman (pups sometimes swim right up to you but don't touch them- it's illegal). The water here is slow & easy (as long as it's a calm day- not so easy if it's windy!) great way to cool down on a summer evening. Good spot for beginners or for a scenic, lazy, relaxing paddle.

Beautiful view of Puget Sound and it's wildlife. There is an approximate 15-20 minute walk from the parking area. This has the benefit of keeping a low number of people visiting at any one time. Great place for a solo contemplative walk, or viewing the sights with a small group.

Nature is always wonderful. Fewer stars for this location because it is pretty busy and has limited parking. Most of the wonder of this location are packaged in quiet observation - which isn't possible when folks are understandably talking and playful in the woods. Visit it sometime to experience it and leave it quiet and accessible the rest of the time for bird and bat folks. 😁♥️

Beautiful place for a stroll through the woods and views of the bay. Really fun to hear all the seals and see the birds. We did the straight trail to the bay and the loop trail back ~3 miles total. Loved the informative billboards about the history of it being a log dumping site and that you can see the existing structures. Need discovery pass here. Spent about 1.5 hours on a mid summer morning and parking lot had about three cars when we arrived and was full when we left. Beautiful spot in Olympia for a quick walk in nature.

Great little trail system with nice views at the end. Being from out of state I was unaware that you needed a DNR pass until I was there so I had to go back into town to find one. Hike was very easy being 100% paved with an option for a dirt path. I didn't get to experience the dirt path trail since I was running out of daylight but I can only imagine how cool it would be given the rest of the area. You could hear multiple different animals throughout the entire hike (seals, bats, owls, birds) and it was extremely peaceful just to close my eyes and take it all in.

Great place for hiking/running! Nice area for a picnic also! Easy trail and totally beautiful.

Woodard Bay is one of the best natural spots in the Olympia area. So relaxing! The path is paved the whole way. There's also more natural loop path. Discover Pass is required to park

Great little walk out to the point. Depending on the season, different species of birds may be very abundant and fun to watch. We saw a bunch of seals on this particular visit. There are some cement canoes with shellfish and fish thar my kids like to play in.

It was a nice short hike. We had a really good time. It was beautiful

Amazing and peaceful place to walk and calm down.

Beautiful place!! I am definitely going back.(One con is parking, but, there are ways to make it work.)

I used the kayak launch, so didn't walk the trail. Nice, quiet, serene area, but water is pretty disgusting. Lots of birds (hundreds in the trees). Some seals on the dock out past the point. In short, lots to see but gross water.

Love walking through this area! The trails are well-kept and maintained. The view at the end is gorgeous!

Nice to visit. The old trails were so much better than now. I used to go once a week but now a couple times a year because of the trail change. It is a great place to launch a kayak. Watch the tides though.

What a beautiful little hike and wonderful views along the way. They have a little restroom as well as a visual and description of what guests are looking at. I was very happy to see how clean everything is; no trash!

Great place to hike on the trail to see the old railroad pier. Beautiful nature scene with cormorants and seals. LouisRuthPhotography.com

Nesting season for Cormorants. Web-footed birds, perched on a fir branch, way up and out of sight. Picture this; middle of a slow afternoon on a Tuesday. No one but you in the parking lot as you get out of the car and think, Wow! when did sea lions arive in Woodard bay? You look around just to embarrass yourself for taking such a though seriously. Only to replace it with possible second outrageous idea. Walruses!?! Yep...and they're fighting! So now you gotta investigate. After making sure no one was there, someone that could explain why tree Walruses were there and yet nothing, NOTHING was ever written about it in the Olympian, you start off down the nicely paved road behind the gate and past the kayak launch to see what the whatever it was was. Anyways its nesting season for Comorants folks. Yep that's what they dubbed the evergreen lounging Tree Walruses when they arrived a few years ago. Keeping them a secret through a series of hoxed videos and phony photos no one dared allow any serious discussionin on the topic. reputations to uphold and all. There was that one thing in the paper durring the parade of species that never qui7 te made sense...