Ebey’s Landing

Late March is still too early to do any serious hiking at significant elevation but the Puget Sound coastal and island region has quite a lot of hidden gems that are very accessible. Ebey’s landing is one of those gems.

If you’ve met Devin and you make it past the (extreme) vetting process, you know that she is really into spreadsheets. You may know someone that gets this certain look when they have concocted a plan and ”it just got real”. That’s exactly how she is with spreadsheets. She made a list organized by region, distance, priority, elevation gain, and a link to the Washington Trails Association. Today’s hike was my pick and after consulting the sheet I decided we would head up to Whidbey Island.

You can either ferry it or take I-5 to the top and drive down to get to Whidbey Island. Both take about the same amount of time so ride a ferry if you want less driving or drive if it helps you feel more in control. We chose to drive. If you do drive most of it is boring until you get off the interstate and head down over Deception Pass. If you’ve never been you’ll want to stop and check it out.

Ebey’s Landing trail system has multiple places to get on. These are known as portals. No mention of any cake but I’m sure it would have been a lie. We started from a parking lot that our phone’s navigation had directed us. If you punch in Ebey’s Landing to Apple/Google maps this is probably where you’ll end up. This is a small (10 – 12 cars) parking lot down near the shore. There is more parking at two spots less than a mile away near a cemetery if this one is full. A Discover pass is required.

We chose an excellent day for this trail. The sun was shining, and the visibility was great. The Olympic peaks were visible across the sound. The trail starts off will a decent amount of up – (checks spreadsheet) about 260 feet. Once up it’s a nice hike along the bluff with magnificent views to the left and a forest to your right. The trail is meant to be a one way but occasionally you’ll encounter a rebel that needs to pass.

Once you reach the end of the bluff, a couple of switchbacks down takes you to the beach and you hike back to the parking lot. Either the wind picked up when we made it down there or it was always that windy down there. Devin and I agreed that we would not have chosen to walk this far out along the beach if it were an out and back. Rocky beach hiking can be strenuous on the knees. Still the sun was out, and the fresh air was nice.

While this is a great hike, I would find another one out in this area to make the journey worth it.