LeRoy's Park Multi-Cache

In the 1930’s sport fishing was an important year round industry on both Camano and Whidbey Islands. May 17, 1934 the headline of the Twin City News read “Cama Beach to Open Saturday; New $150,000 Resort to be Thrown Open to the Public”.
An early advertisement in a Camano Resort Association publication shows Cama Beach Resort offering 50 rental units, housekeeping cottages and bungalows and states “recreation lodge with mammoth fireplace”.
These stones are the rubble from the original mammoth fireplace (WP 1) and near the center of the property, equidistant from all the boundries. The recreation hall burned in 1977 along with the bathhouse. The recreation hall was the social center of the resort, a place where guests could square dance, watch “sound” movies and participate in conducted game programs for children. In 2011 this social center sprang to life again with the opening of the Cama Center.
During the 55 years that Cama Beach Resort operated, numerous other resorts thrived on Camano Island. Within a couple of miles of Cama three other resorts, (all smaller) were in operation, Manaco Resort, Indian Beach Resort and Camano Beach Resort. In the Puget Sound area there were over 150 resorts and boathouses operating. Cama Beach was advertised as the Finest Salt Water Resort on the Coast and The Perfect Family Resort.

In 1933-34 LeRoy bought land totaling about 430 acres with over a mile of waterfront, hiring a local crew for construction. He passed away in 1938; management passed to daughter Muriel Stradley Risk and son-in-law Lee Risk. The resort closed to the public in 1989. WA State Parks acquired property through four phases of purchase and donation by heirs of L. R. Stradley beginning in 1994, completed in 1998. Cama Beach opened as a State Park June 21, 2008.

At this waypoint (WP 2) you need to find the old stone sign.
Count the total letters in each of the words on the granite and use that number to replace the last three numbers in the latitude and longitude coordinates to get you to WP 3.

.ABC
.DEF
Where A=fourth word, B=second word, C=total of the last two words; D=last word + first word, E=second word and F=total of last two words.

Touring cars put people on the road in the 30’s and labor laws provided more leisure time. L.R. Stradley thought of everything to offer his guests a pleasant time.
Cama Beach Resort 60 miles north of Seattle offered “modern comforts and conveniences to make Natures thousand wonders more appealing”. The resort ran a general store for the convenience of guests. The resort remains as a legacy of the past, unchanged in almost every way and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The history of this land is forests. Some of the biggest trees in Island County grew on Camano and southern Whidbey. Fir trees on a good site could have a diameter of 5-7 feet and heights from 245-330 feet. These were some of the most productive conifer forests in the world.
Cama Beach was a logging camp 1905 to 1908. Esary Logging was owned by Tom Esary. A skid road led to the shore where logs were put into the water and towed by boats to the sawmill at Utsalady.(photo courtesy of Amaryllis Whitmarsh).

• Please respect the flora.
• No need to bushwhack.
• Terrain rating is only because there is a short hike involved.
• If you find the cache please replace it as well or better than you found it.
• Have fun and tip your hat to the man who preserved this place for the future, L.R. Stradley.

The geocache may be placed on Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission managed property only by written permission from the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. The following items shall not be placed in the geocache: Food items; illegal substances; medications; personal hygiene products, pornographic materials; inappropriate, offensive, or hazardous materials or weapons of any type. Log books are required for each cache and are to be provided by the owner of the cache. It is the visitor’s responsibility to orient themselves with policies and rules pertaining to State Parks areas. Report any incident, problem, or violation to State Parks staff.