Living in Washington

Why Camas, WA Is One of the Pacific Northwest's Best-Kept Secrets

Small-town charm. World-class nature. A waterfront being reborn. And a growth story that smart buyers are paying close attention to.

David Merrick  ·  Camas, WA  ·  2026

The Big Picture

Welcome to Washington's Gateway to the Gorge

If you've been looking at the Portland metro and wondering whether Washington has an answer to all the things you love about the Oregon side — the outdoor access, the food scene, the walkable downtowns — let me introduce you to Camas. Only 13 miles from PDX, situated right at the entrance to the Columbia River Gorge, and sitting inside the Washington state line (no income tax, friends), Camas is the kind of place people stumble into and immediately wonder why they hadn't looked sooner.

I'm David Merrick, and I've been helping buyers relocate to and around the Camas/Vancouver area for years. This isn't a generic community overview. It's the real story — the trails, the dining, the development, and the investment case that most people don't know about yet.

Downtown Life

Downtown Camas: A Main Street That Actually Delivers

Downtown Camas is one of those rare places where the phrase "charming small-town downtown" is completely earned. Tree-lined streets, locally owned businesses, art tucked into every corner — including 14 life-sized bronze birds hidden throughout the blocks — and a dining scene that punches well above its zip code.

🍽 Dining & Drinks

The downtown corridor has everything from a proper farm-to-table Mexican restaurant in Nuestra Mesa to the kind of old-school burger counter at K&M Drive-In that has lines out the door for a reason. Grains of Wrath Brewery has become a genuine community anchor — housed in a converted 1930s auto shop with a huge outdoor patio and award-winning beer. And the Camas Hotel anchors downtown with a great bar program and Pacific Rim menu through Tommy O's.

Beyond dining, the Downtown Camas Association keeps the street activated year-round. Camtown Art & Music Festival, the farmers market, late-night pop-up events — this is a community that invests in its core.

🎬 Shops & Attractions

Nature & Recreation

Lacamas Lake: Your Backyard Wilderness

Lacamas Lake and the surrounding park system are, frankly, what set Camas apart from every other Vancouver suburb. This isn't a neighborhood pond. We're talking a 312-acre regional park with over 12 miles of interconnected trails, two lakes (Lacamas and Round Lake), multiple waterfalls, dramatic rocky outcroppings, and one of the best wildflower shows in Southwest Washington every April when the camas lilies bloom.

Because Camas is Washington's "Gateway to the Columbia River Gorge," the adventure doesn't stop at the city limits. Hardy Falls and Rodney Falls are a short drive east on Highway 14. Multnomah Falls, Vista House, and the Historic Columbia River Highway are easily accessible from the Oregon side. Columbia Gorge Vintners, a standout winery, is only 15 minutes from downtown.

🥾 Trails & Outdoor Access

The Waterfront Transformation

Hyas Point: The Development That Changes Everything at the Port

For the better part of a decade, the Port of Camas-Washougal sat on an extraordinary asset — 35 acres of waterfront land along the Columbia River on a former industrial site — and quietly planned what to do with it. In October 2024, after years of soil remediation and visioning work, they broke ground. What they're building at Hyas Point is legitimately exciting.

Phase 1 includes four buildings with 276 apartment units and 56,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space — all along the Columbia River waterfront. Completion is targeted for fall 2026. Phase 2 adds a senior living center and full-service athletic club.

The Port is also welcoming American Cruise Lines riverboats — 87 scheduled stops in 2025–2026 — bringing regional tourism directly to Parker's Landing Marina and the adjacent Waterfront Park. The vision: a genuine work-live-play corridor along the Columbia.

The North Shore Story

Behind Lacamas Lake: The Growth Plan That's Just Getting Started

Here's what most buyers — and even many locals — don't fully appreciate yet: the most transformative chapter of Camas' growth isn't downtown, and it's not the waterfront. It's the roughly 990 acres of mostly undeveloped land on the north shore of Lacamas Lake that the city has been quietly planning for over a decade.

In early 2026, SunCal — a California-based master-planned community developer — proposed a development on approximately 300 acres of that north shore land. The concept includes a town center (with a potential major grocery anchor), a mix of housing types from single-family to townhomes and apartments, a central plaza, and an extension of North Shore Boulevard. Build-out is planned over 15 years.

Separately, Camas Woods — nearly 300 housing units near Camas High School — represents the leading edge of what becomes a full new neighborhood. Toll Brothers' Lacamas Hills community is actively selling along the north shore, with homes from the mid-$800s to over $1.3M and direct trail access to Lacamas Lake Park across the street.

The city has permanently protected 165 acres of lakeside land as Legacy Lands — preserved open space and parks that serve as the green heart of the North Shore neighborhood. The City of Camas' Comprehensive Plan (Our Camas 2045) envisions a full mixed-use node north of the lake — employment, multifamily, commercial — including an 84-acre Urban Growth Area expansion and a new SR-500 roundabout by 2030.

This is not speculation. Infrastructure, master planning, and developer capital are converging on the same geography. If you're evaluating Camas as a place to buy now, the North Shore story is a meaningful part of the calculus.

Featured Listing

529 NE Province Drive

Province Estates · Camas, WA

Most people drive right past Province Estates without ever knowing it's there. Tucked off the main corridor and invisible from the street, this small collection of contemporary homes sits in one of Camas' most private residential pockets — the kind of neighborhood that doesn't advertise itself. Home values here run from $1M to $5M, and the architecture leans decidedly modern: clean lines, thoughtful materials, an aesthetic that would feel at home in the West Hills or on the Oregon coast. A gated enclave of just a handful of homes sits immediately behind this property, adding another layer of privacy to an already secluded setting.

Location & Access

The Commute Math — and Why It Actually Works

Camas is 13 miles from PDX International Airport — about 18 minutes in clear conditions. The SR-14 and I-205 corridors give you two meaningful options. For anyone who travels regularly for work, proximity to PDX is genuinely competitive with most Portland suburbs.

Access to downtown Portland is typically 25–40 minutes. The IBR (Interstate Bridge Replacement) project — $7.65 billion funded, construction starting 2028, light rail extension to Vancouver — will change the commuter calculus for the entire region. Buyers who lock in today are positioned in front of a meaningful connectivity upgrade.

And because you're in Washington, there's no state income tax. For households earning $150K–$200K+, that gap versus Oregon is real money, year after year.

The Bottom Line

What Camas Really Is

Camas is not a compromise. It's not "almost Portland" or "close enough to the Gorge." It is its own thing — a city with genuine small-town character, top-ranked schools, serious outdoor infrastructure, a resurgent waterfront, and a growth trajectory that most buyers aren't fully pricing in yet.

If you're considering a move to the Pacific Northwest — whether from another state or just across the river — a serious look at Camas belongs on your shortlist. I'd love to be the guide who shows you around.

Currently Listed

529 NE Province Drive, Camas, WA

$1,324,900

Province Estates  ·  Modern/Contemporary  ·  Camas School District