Alki Point Lighthouse charges $20 to park on weekends. Mukilteo pulls 200 visitors by noon. West Point in Discovery Park requires a 1.2-mile walk through crowds just to see the tower. Then you take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry for 30 minutes and drive 10 miles north to find what 1880 looked like. Point No Point Lighthouse sits on a low sandspit where Puget Sound meets Admiralty Inlet. The whitewashed brick tower stands 30 feet high. No parking fees. No crowds. Washington’s oldest operating lighthouse on the Sound has kept its light burning since February 1880.
Why Seattle’s lighthouse circuit feels crowded
Seattle’s waterfront lighthouses operate like tourist attractions now. Alki Beach pulls weekend crowds that fill paid lots by 10am. Mukilteo sits next to the ferry terminal where wait times hit 45 minutes during summer. West Point requires parking at Discovery Park’s lot then walking over a mile through joggers and dog walkers to reach the tower.
The math adds up fast. Parking at Alki costs $20 on weekends. Gas and bridge tolls from downtown Seattle run another $15. You spend an hour in traffic each direction. Then you share the view with 200 other people taking the same Instagram photo.
Point No Point changes that equation. The Edmonds-Kingston ferry costs $20-30 round-trip for a vehicle. The 30-minute crossing feels like part of the experience. You watch Puget Sound open up as the boat cuts through gray-blue water. Mount Baker appears to the north when fog lifts. Then a 10-mile drive on quiet roads through Douglas fir forests brings you to Hansville.
Meet Point No Point, Washington’s oldest working lighthouse
The landscape
The lighthouse sits in a 61-acre county park at the peninsula’s northeastern tip. A pale sandspit extends into the strait. Beach grass bends in constant wind. Driftwood logs the size of cars line the high-tide mark. The square brick tower rises from this low point, painted white with a red-roofed keeper’s duplex beside it. Behind everything, the Olympic Mountains form a misty backdrop when weather allows.
The setting feels exposed. No trees block the wind. The sandspit stretches maybe half a mile into the water at low tide. Waves crash on shoals that drew ships too close in the 1800s. That’s why they built the light here. The station includes the original 1880 oil house and fog signal building. A 90-foot Coast Guard radar tower stands nearby, still monitoring vessel traffic.
The price comparison
Point No Point County Park charges no entry fee. No Discover Pass required. You park 100 feet from the lighthouse in a gravel lot that rarely fills. The keeper’s duplex rents for $285 per night through the U.S. Lighthouse Society. That’s less than most Seattle hotels charge for a room with no view. The rental includes the west half of the historic building, sleeps five adults, and puts you inside a working lighthouse station.
Compare that to Seattle’s options. Downtown hotels run $200-300 per night. Parking adds $30-40 daily. Restaurants near Pike Place charge tourist prices. At Point No Point, you cook in a kitchen that lighthouse keepers used. You watch seals from the same windows where families lived for decades. The nearest restaurant sits 2 miles away in Hansville. That isolation is the point.
The experience
What you actually do
The lighthouse opens for short tours when volunteer docents are available. Most visitors walk the beach instead. The sandspit extends far enough that you can stand surrounded by water on three sides. Bald eagles hunt from snags in the marsh behind the station. Winter brings humpback whales close to shore during migration. Steller sea lions haul out on rocks near the point.
Bird watching peaks in winter. The restored salt marsh attracts waterfowl and raptors. One visitor in December 2013 called it a “birder’s winter paradise” after watching orcas from the keeper’s cottage window. The beach walk takes 20 minutes if you go straight. Most people spend an hour picking through tide pools and driftwood.
The fog horn sounds when visibility drops. That happens often in February. The low moan carries across the strait, the same warning signal that guided ships since 1880. Modern vessels rely on GPS now, but the Coast Guard maintains the light and horn for backup. The automated beacon flashes three times every 10 seconds, visible 14-17 nautical miles out.
The culture
This land belonged to S’Klallam, Skokomish, and Chimacum tribes who called it Hahd-skus, meaning “long nose.” In 1855, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens signed the Point No Point Treaty here with tribal leaders. That history gets mentioned in park signs but deserves more attention. The treaty shaped the entire region’s future.
The first lighthouse keeper, Dr. John S. Maggs, was a Seattle dentist. He rigged a canvas windbreak around a kerosene lamp in the unfinished tower to get light burning by New Year’s 1880. Supplies arrived by boat for 40 years before roads reached Hansville. The keeper’s wife, Mary Scannell, ran the post office from the station for 21 years starting in 1893. That small detail shows how isolated this point was. The lighthouse served as the community center because nothing else existed out here.
Why February works
Winter at Point No Point means rain and fog. Temperatures stay between 35-45°F. The beach empties completely. Jeff Gales, director of the U.S. Lighthouse Society, said it clearly in a rental listing: “In the off-season you have a completely different experience altogether. It’s a private place. You don’t have all the summer traffic.”
That privacy matters more than perfect weather. Summer brings families to the beach. Kids build driftwood forts. The parking lot fills by afternoon. In February, you might see one other car. The fog rolls in thick some mornings and doesn’t lift until noon. When it clears, the view extends to Mount Baker 60 miles north and Mount Rainier 80 miles south. Seattle’s skyline shows as a faint line across the water.
The keeper’s duplex includes WiFi but no TV. You read books. You watch weather move across the strait. You hear the fog horn at 3am and understand why lighthouse families went quietly mad out here. Then morning comes and the isolation turns into peace. One rental guest wrote: “Curious seals check the shoreline.” That’s the experience. Wildlife closer than people.
Your questions about Point No Point answered
How long does the trip from Seattle take?
Plan 90 minutes door-to-door. Drive 30 minutes north to Edmonds ferry terminal. The crossing to Kingston takes 30 minutes. Then drive 10 miles on Highway 104 and Point No Point Road. Ferry schedules run hourly most days. Check Washington State Ferries website for current times. Arrive 30 minutes early on weekends to guarantee a spot.
What makes this different from other Puget Sound lighthouses?
Point No Point has operated continuously since 1880, making it the oldest on Puget Sound. The station still serves its original purpose, guiding vessels through Admiralty Inlet. You can rent the keeper’s quarters and sleep where lighthouse families lived. Most other lighthouses became museums or private property. This one remains a working aid to navigation with public beach access and no entry fees.
Is it worth visiting in winter versus summer?
Winter delivers the authentic experience. Summer crowds the beach and parking lot. February brings gray whales, winter birds, and fog-horn mornings. The keeper’s duplex rents for the same $285 per night year-round. Book two nights minimum to justify the ferry crossing. If you want solitude and weather drama, winter wins. If you want easy beach walking and clear mountain views, visit September or early October instead.
The ferry back to Edmonds leaves every hour until 11pm. Most day visitors make the 4:30pm crossing. I almost missed it once because a seal pup hauled out 20 feet from where I stood. The mother circled in shallow water, watching. The lighthouse beam started its rotation as the sun dropped behind the Olympics. That’s the image that stays. Not the tower itself, but what happens around it when you stop moving.