Strung together four loops in Deception Pass State Park for a total 8.5 - 9 mile tour of the Fidalgo side of Deception Pass State Park. At 8:15 am I was the second car in the Bowman Bay boat ramp parking area (CCC parking area closed). I started off heading south from the parking area along Bowman Bay and hiked the trails in this order:
Lottie Point Loop -- best views of the bridge and Deception and Canoe Passes from this trail. A little overgrown in places with bush branches hanging down from above. Required some crouching (I'm 6' 5"), but not too bad.
Lighthouse Point Loop -- my favorite of the four sections I hiked: Beach access in a couple places, beautiful forest with madronnas and large Douglas Firs, and high bluffs with great Puget Sound, island, and Olympic Mountain views.
Pass Lake Loop -- headed up the trail that takes off uphill and to the left where the trail from Bowman Bay intersects with both the Lottie Point and Lighthouse Point Loops. This trail gets quite close to Hwy 20 before reaching Pass Lake. The highway mostly drowns out the sound of the creek that the trail parallels at this point. The Lake itself is not overly spectacular and there really aren't many views of it along the loop trail other than where the trail crosses Rosario Road. Other views are mostly filtered through trees. This is the most aerobic of the four loops I did. The climb will get your heart pumping and the forest is pleasant.
Rosario Head Loop -- after completing the Pass Lake Loop, I walked down Bowman Bay Road back to the parking area and then headed north on the Rosario Head Loop trail. The CCC Interpretive Center is presently closed. This loop, while pretty, felt the most like a city park to me and less like a true hike: lots of large grassy areas with picnic tables, BBQs, and outbuildings, plus a drive up beach (Rosario Beach). Impressive bluffs along Rosario Head and more Puget Sound views, but more civilization in those views from homes on a hillside to the north to a large industrial center well to the south (Boeing Everett?). I like the Lighthouse Loop a lot better.
All the trails are in very good condition with no major obstacles. I had an unexpected amount of solitude for Washington's most visited state park. On Lottie Point Loop and Pass Lake Loop I encountered no one. And very few on Lighthouse and Rosario Loops. A really enjoyable outing. The only negative I will mention (perhaps at some peril) is that beginning around 10:00 am +/-, the noise from jets and other aircraft from NAS Whidbey was nearly continuous with brief interludes of silence. Sometimes very low and very loud flying. I made mention of that to one of the few people I saw on Lighthouse Loop and he proceeded to inform me that what I was hearing was the "sound of freedom" and that I should just enjoy it. So, to be clear, I don't dislike our disrespect our military, I simply mention it as it does detract from what could otherwise be (on much on these trails) a plausible near-wildnerness experience. I'll be back to check out the Whidbey Island side of the park.
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