I hoped to take my 4 yo grandson on an overnight adventure, however that didn't work out and I was glad. I knew there wasn't a whole bunch in the way of trails here but thought beach walking would be fun. We arrived and that's when I learned there is a $7 day use fee. That would be fine except that we drove around for 30 minutes trying to find parking. We ended up back up the hill near the campground area in the auxiliary parking and took the trail down to the beach area. It's a fairly steep downhill; A mix of trail and steps. Once down near the beach we discovered a family reunion, two company picnics and baptism going on. Add in the local fishermen and it was downright chaotic. After wandering out on the pier, into the info booth, we played on the beach and driftwood a bit. There is also a playground that was very crowded. The best thing about this park in my opinion it was spending time with the grand boy and the views out over the water. Glad we went to check it off the list, but probably won't go back until fall or winter and the crowds have thinned. By the time we walked back up to the car, there was a "Parking lot full" sign posted.

Kayak Point: The actual trail itself included stairs, and steep inclines/declines that appeared to be in disrepair. We could not access the trail, itself, so we opted to walk through the park, beach and pier areas. Very nice walk, easy terrain, I recommend that you dress warmly if you plan to be there long, or to spend much time on the pier,as the wind is bitingly cold. We did see quite a few types of duck, geese and seagull, as well as one seal from, or around the pier. The only two adverse conditions that I listed in this report, were specifically for Kayak Point's inaccessible trail, itself. Camano Island State Park: Scenic drive to a very nice beginners/easy hike. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening there, finishing our trip by watching a beautiful sunset over Whidbey Island. The terrain is wet, rocky, uneven shoreline, once you reach the bottom of the semi-well kept staircase, but not difficult to cross. We walked the entire length of the visible beach in a relatively quick time frame. The photo opportunities here, and at Kayak Point were very good, I would recommend both locations, and look forward to Kayak Point re-opening their actual trail. We did not have any children or pets with us, but saw many people escorting both. We started at Kayak Point & finished at Camano Island, I have attempted to locate both trail heads on the map below.

There are a couple short trails at this park. We hiked the trails that were in the campground area. The first was the Beach Trail and the second simply said "Hiking Trail" on the sign. The Hiking Trail meets up with the Beach Trail that takes you down to the beach. Both of these trails were a bit overgrown and muddy in spots. Small children shouldn't have any problems though. The beach is rocky and a nice sandy area is hard to come by. So if your kids tire of the beach there is a nice playground area down near the water for them to burn some energy. There are plenty of picnic shelters as well. After our beach excursion, we hiked back to the campground where we were camping. We found some unmarked trails near campsites 15 and 16 and decided to explore them. Thay were in decent condition considering they were unmarked and presumably unmaintained trails (there were some blowdowns, overgrown and muddy areas, but nothing impassable). It was on one of these trails that we saw the owl in the picture. Any idea what type of owl it is? To see more about our hike go to: http://1retromama.blogspot.com/2012/06/kayak-point-park-stanwood-snohomish.html

I was curious about the hiking possibilities at this Snohomish County park, located north of Marysville on the Puget Sound shoreline, and decided to stop by and check it out. Kayak Point features a long stretch of developed beach area with picnic tables, and an extensive campground in the forest above. As for trails, however, there are hardly any at all. Some short paths connect the campground and visitor center to the beach, that's about it. During low tide, some extended beach hiking may be available. Later in spring, when we start getting good daytime low tides, the beach hiking might be worth trying out.