Without question one of the more popular destinations of the San Juan Islands. Take a walk along the two miles of hiking trails and you may see deer, birds, or mink, or search for the foundation of a pioneer’s homesite on the south side of the island. The cove and dock on the north side of the island are a short walk away.
Location: Jones Island is a half a mile off the southwest corner of Orcas Island. Campsite is at the midpoint of west side of the island.
Hazards:
Sites: 2
Water: Available May 15-Sept 15 at N and S cove camp areas.
Sanitation: Composting toilet
Overflow: Campsites in northern or southern coves
Fires: Fire pit available
Extras: Picnic table
Fees: $12/night for up to 8 in site
Special Considerations: Racoons will take any accessible food.
Natural History: Jones Island was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841 in honor of Cpt. Jacob Jones, US Navy, who captured the British brig "Frolic" on October 18, 1812, as Master Commandant of the sloop-of-war "Wasp." The island has denser vegetation than the other islands, and island deer have become so tame that they regularly beg food from campers.
Max People:
Max Nights:
Reservations: No
Latitude: 48.616216
Longitude: -123.051966
6 thoughts on “Jones Island State Park”
Error: “Jones Island was named by the Wilkes Expedition in 1941 in honor of Cpt. Jacob Jones.”
United States Exploring Expedition, also known as the Wilkes Expedition, was 1838–1842. It explored and named locations in the Oregon Territory, including what later became Washington Territory, then Washington State, in the Spring of 1841. Thus, Jones Island would have been named in 1841, not 1941.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Exploring_Expedition
Revise the first part:
. . . Cpt. Jacob Jones.”
United States Exploring Expedition . . . .
Boated in to Jones last week in a 26 foot power boat. Got room on the dock for 3 nights. Weather was hot but hiking the trails among the cool forest was beautiful! Took it slow to absorb the serenity of nature. West side had 2 shelters with bunk beds that one can reserve. Composting toilets are very well maintained and the rangers are great. . Wish I had known about the old pioneer homestead. Please don’t send any advertising emails.
Thank you, Nita! As the Cascadia Marine Trail site, and other camping sites are on the west side, we confirmed that the shelters are on the south side. Glad you loved it, it’s one of our favorites too!
Camped on Jones with friends at the Marine Trails sites on the west side 4/10, 11 and 12/2026. Beautiful sunsets as usual, with fawn lilies, chocolate lilies and calypso orchid along the bluff trail. Bioluminescence from the kayaks was amazing with glassy water. No water on the island yet.
The raccoons were especially aggressive, ripping a hole in my friend’s tent to get her journal (and tear it up), getting into kayak hatches (even slicing one of the straps to my kayak hatch – which hasn’t happen before in many years of kayaking).
We overnighted here April 25-26, stopping first to see the wildflowers on Yellow Island (the caretaker said they think the flowers haven’t quite peaked yet—still it was pretty darn nice.
The two CMT sites are adjoining other campsites available to anyone who boats in. We had no neighbors and, as far as we could tell, we were the only campers on the entire island this weekend (there were people mooring overnight, but ours were the only tents).
Most the tent sites were fairly level. The campsite areas were really clean and trash free. The “composting” toilet is up the hill but its seems to be less composting and more big plastic bucket of poop with a toilet seat—and it likely could use some maintenance (emptying). But, great news: lots of toilet paper and hand sanitizer! Kudos to the park staff!
The sunset views were spectacular and a harbor seal seemed to have adopted us and spent its time hanging out just offshore watching the funny people onshore. Yes, the raccoons were problematic—one grabbed a friend’s insulated lunch bag off the picnic table as we were getting the fire started (we were maybe 10 feet away and we got the bag back). Others were very interested in the boats and tried to get into one of the hatches before they got chased off. Interestingly, they didn’t mess with the the covered cockpits (we take and use heavy nylon cockpit covers to keep little critters and leaves out). They did not bother us in the tents.
Expecting the raccoons, we brought bear cans for the food and smellies. The bear cans worked really well—we heard them trying to get into them after we’d gone to bed, but while they knocked them over and rolled them around, they failed! We did end up hanging our trash bag and they did not bother that. If I were to go again, I’d likely ditch the bear cans and just plan to hang several bags (so take plenty of cord).