Beacon Rock

Beacon Rock State Park is about a half hour west of White Salmon, WA on the Columbia River. The park has 9,500 feet of freshwater shoreline on the Columbia River, making it a wonderful place enjoy the Columbia River. Beacon Rock is actually the core of an ancient volcano, and those willing to trek up the mile long path to its summit will be rewarded with stunning views of the Columbia River Gorge. Beacon Rock State Park also offers rock climbing, hiking, camping, bike riding. Parking requires a Discovery Pass or Washington State Park fee of $10/day.

Amenities: bathrooms, camping, boat ramp and picnic tables

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COVID-19

Keep your distance from other people.

Practicing social distancing is still essential. Only go to the beach if you are able to keep 6 feet or 2 meters away from others. Follow the instructions provided by your local health authorities. If your community has asked that you remain indoors and away from others, do so. Spending a day in any crowded place is the worst thing we can do for our most vulnerable right now and will counter our efforts to curb the virus’s spread.

Water Quality

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Special Status
This means the affiliate organization managing a beach has set the beach status based on special local knowledge or information. Check the beach description and the Sources section for details.

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Current Weather

12°C

Cloudy

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Monitoring Frequency

Source Information

The Washington state water quality standard provides that E.coli levels must not exceed a geometric mean value of 100 colonies /100 mL, with not more than 10 percent of all samples (or any single sample when less than ten sample points exist) obtained for calculating the geometric mean value exceeding 200 colonies /100 mL. The EPA recommended standard provides that no single sample shall exceed 235 E.coli colonies/100mL and the geometric mean of 5 samples within 30 days shall not exceed 126 E.coli colonies/100mL. The Swim Guide will utilize the EPA standard for Washington beaches.
There is currently very limited water quality monitoring of Washington's inland swim beaches. The federal Beach Act does not cover freshwater or riverine beaches, and the State of Washington does not monitor swim beaches or recreation sites on the Columbia. Columbia Riverkeeper monitors recreation sites in the Columbia River Gorge through their Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Program. Most sites are sampled monthly and high priority sites are sampled weekly from June-September.
The Swim Guide's safety ratings are based solely on E.coli levels. While E.coli concentration is a useful indicator of fecal contamination, there are many other potential sources of pollution that are not reflected in the Swim Guide. These include other bacteria, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides that may harm aquatic life. On the Columbia and other salmon rivers, high temperatures threaten fish that need cold water. If you are interested in getting involved or learning more about the Columbia River, visit <A HREF="http://www.columbiariverkeeper.org">www.columbiariverkeeper.org</A>.

Water Quality Graph