My friend found this trail and said we had to do it because of the name :) We had spent the night at the Kitsap Memorial Campground after an evening of kayaking amongst the bioluminescent plankton (highly recommend  on a new moon!) and wanted an adventure before heading home. It was a short, lovely trail, easy to follow, though really overgrown. It was being maintained the day we went so lots of weed whacking happening. We found the pond and it was really low, as it is late July. Major evidence of beavers, but sadly, much to my friend's disappointment, no beavers. Still, a nice stroll through the forest on a lovely day. 

We took the 7:55 ferry from Edmonds and arrived before 8:30 to an empty parking lot at the Bay View TH.  We headed south to hike the Secret Squirrel loop - using gaia to help navigate. We hiked the BuzzCut (lots of scotch bloom so not a good trail when they are in bloom for anyone that might be affected with hay fever), then to the viewpoint at New Hope.  A local hiker told us Mt Baker could be seen from there on a clear day.   We continued north to the Beaver Pond loop.  Only encountered a couple of mountain bikers and a few hikers so lots of solitude on our hike.   Our gps averaged 7 miles.

Loo at the TH is in need of maintenance.

Nice place to stretch your legs and break up the driving. Plenty of berries for a trail snack today.

Such a nice trail for visitors , locals, and school kids. Met a wonderful forest teacher with her students. Wealth of information - the beavers have moved upstream and have started a new dam. Their old site is a wonderful pond with the lodges still present. Lots of bird and amphibian activity here. I found the signage to be excellent although there are many unsigned side trails that are fun to explore. A digital map is available at the info board at the trailhead. We used gaia and all trails and both were very accurate.

Hiked a clockwise loop, starting at the Port Gamble Trailhead, Beaver Pond Trail, Springs Trail, Ranger Trail (after missing the Lynx Trail), G1300, Tessa's Trail, and G1100 back to the parking lot.

Access. Paved road.

Conditions. No major obstacles on the trail, and minimal mud despite the recent rain. Finding the intended trails was a challenge, as junctions were mostly unsigned, and there were a lot of unmapped trails. Ended up relying on this map; OpenStreetMap/Google Maps/NW Topos all had too many errors and omissions.

Flora & Fauna. Lots of blackberries, but only a few were still edible. Spotted an owl along the Ranger Trail.

Crowds. 6 cars in the huge parking area at 1 PM, and a similar number of parties on the trail, both on foot and on bikes.