Explorations & Daily Life Around Thousand Trails Birch Bay

As full-time RVers, being able to use our Thousand Trails membership really helps our budget. So finding them in great locations or with amenities or features we appreciate really makes life that much sweeter. For Thousand Trails Birch Bay in northern Washington state, it checks both of these!

Birch Bay is only a few miles from the Canadian border, less than an hour from Vancouver (check out the blog on our not so great visit to Vancouver here), and only a couple of hours north of Seattle. If big cities aren’t your thing, there are a couple of great towns within 15-20 minutes that have shopping, history and entertainment for whatever you may need.

We spent a lot of time in the friendly town of Bellingham, exploring with a GPSMyCity tour, visiting the Spark Museum, trying some of the local restaurants–I lost track of how many visits I made to Chocolate Necessities‘ downtown location for sipping chocolates or gelato, but it was a lot! (check out all the details in the blog Sparking Joy in Bellingham here). We timed it well and were able to attend Seafest 2025, celebrating the maritime history while enjoying food, artisans and music from the area. Exploring nearby Whatcom Falls Park was enjoyable to hike and explore with so many trail options, and it was dog friendly!

The campground itself was a great homebase for us. We had planned to stay for only two weeks and ended up extending to stay for a third. Each site has full hooks ups and, in the phase 2 section we were in, is set up like a buddy site where the utilities are back to back. On one hand, that puts the utility side of the RVs closer together, but on the other you have a large camp side space and it isn’t over someone’s sewer hose. There was a picnic table at each site. We visited during a fire ban, so no fire rings, but we were allowed to use our propane fire pit.

The phase two side also has nice open sky for our Starlink, and our Verizon phones had signal enough for calls and texts. There is plenty of road space to maneuver to and from sites and around the park, but several speed bumps, which means people are driving slow enough to not dust everything since they are gravel roads. There’s a road connecting phase one and two near the cabins, where you’ll find the tent camping area, as well as a short nature trail (it’s along the back side of the RV park that sits between the two sections). There are bathhouses, trash and recycle bins, and playgrounds in both phases, as well.

The main section of the park has all the other amenities. You’ll find the front office has a small camp store. There’s also a pool (only open seasonally), dog park, horseshoes, volleyball, and an activity center with books, movies, seating and ping pong tables. The laundry room has several machines, but you’ll need to download an app to use it. As avid runner/walkers, I liked that a full loop of the campground perimeter was about a mile, and the husband was able to run down to the bay on the road shoulder without issue–he even ran all the way to Peace Park, at the US-Canadian border one day!

The campground was quiet and the neighbors were friendly and always up for a visit. We visited the end of September, so had a mix of sunny days and rain, but the temperatures were enjoyable with cool days and chilly nights, perfect for cozy fires and comfy blankets at night.

If we venture back to Washington, we will definitely plan to stay here again. This area has felt like a home away from home and has been a pleasant stop.

If you’re not a Thousand Trails member, but are interested, use our referral sign up, linked here, and we will get your information to Sharon and Warren Lewis, our specialists, to help you find a membership that works for your budget and camping style!

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Thanks for being here, we’ll see you out there!