John Tursi Trail, Deception Pass State Park - Headlands / Rosario Head / Lighthouse Point — Saturday, May. 23, 2020

The John Tursi Trail is a National Scenic Trail that is quite interesting.  It features an old mine, remnants of an old cabin and an old homestead site, a red rock quarry, wildflowers, Madrona trees,and views.

The small signed parking area is at the junction of Campbell Lake, Sharpe, and Donnell Roads.  Enter from Campbell Lake road.  No pass needed.  Walk 0.45 mile down Donnell Road (no parking on that road) and find the signed TH on the right.  Begin with a moderate ascent (300' in 1/3 mile).  The way then undulates up and down.  View the obvious mine on the right followed by the old cabin just below the mine.

Encounter a section with huge clusters of wild roses and other wildflowers bracketing the trail.  There is a side trail there that leads up about 75' through an open area of moss covered rocks.

The next attraction is the Red Rock Quarry on the right.  Be sure to search the history for this trail and learn the use for the rocks from this site.  There must be a Red Rock Cairn Competition based on the assortment of piled red rocks below the cliff.

You will ascend steeply after the quarry and find several view points.  Soon thereafter,  you will notice a ridge on your left.  There are paths leading to the top of the ridge.  Take them and admire the proliferation of Stonecrop that is blooming.

At 1.6 miles from where you parked, there is a junction just past the slab for the old homestead house on the left.  This was my turnaround point today because the trail continues down to Pass Lake and is not as interesting as the section leading to the junction.

There were a few mosquitoes on the Tursi Trail that kept "bugging" me, so I applied my Eucalyptus insect repellent and forgot about the bugs.

I like to hike at least five miles, so I went to Bowman Bay and hiked the Bowman Trail to Rosario Head.  There are some nice views from this trail.  The highlight, however, was a wedding on Rosario Head.

There were no other hikers on the John Tursi Trail, but there were many of them on the Bowman Bay Trail.  There were over 30 cars in the parking lot when I left, and traffic was heavy for the area as I returned home.