Ebey's Landing

Here was a trail totally unlike any I have experienced in Washington state: the elements of nature have magically transformed a section of Puget Sound shoreline into northern California coast. The trail starts right on the beach but quickly climbs onto a bluff so high and steep as to possibly induce vertigo, with views of the water and the Olympics to match. Between the trail and the Sound was almost entirely grass-covered, while on the other side the winds had blown and twisted Douglas firs into a clever imitation of California cypress trees. Perhaps the winds also blow the trail dry; I didn't see a single smidgen of mud on it. With such a steep drop below, I was surprised to find a branch trail that dropped to the shoreline, allowing a loop back (although we didn't take it). The trail must be popular with joggers; we met two of them along the way. More memorably, we also encountered a bald eagle soaring close enough to easily identify without binoculars.

Thanks to Nature Conservancy efforts, this trail appears to be entirely on public land now, although if you branch off to the Ebey's Prairie trail you will have to cross private land. (There doesn't seem to be much prairie left on Ebey's prairie, anyway.) The trail is about 2 miles in length (according to a fellow hiker) and is located on Whidbey Island, directly south of Coupeville.