Bring your binoculars and your camera: Beaver Creek State Natural Area is a place to see nature up close. Whether you hike through upland forest or paddle through the lush marsh, signs of life abound. Just minutes from Highway 101, the marsh supports river otter, beaver and migratory and resident birds. The marsh also serves as critical habitat for Coho salmon, cutthroat trout and winter steelhead. Roosevelt elk, deer, coyote and the occasional black bear and cougar are at home in the grassy meadows and forests that surround the marsh. The mouth of Beaver Creek opens to the Pacific Ocean at On

Sources: Wikimedia Commons / editorial, State agency · updated 2026-08-23