We got to the parking lot at 9:45am and we were the 4th car in the parking area, and it wasn't full when we left around 1:30.
We did this hike about a year ago and this was our first time back since. This one is a little tough on my kids (5 and almost-3) - I think it's because the uphill is at the end instead of the beginning - they're doing the tough work when they're already exhausted.
My son wanted to go the beach again so we chose this one today.
The hike down on the main trail has stretches that are full of stinging nettle. In fact this hike is the place my son had his first interaction with it - thankfully we were able to avoid it today (Although I did have to yank my daughter's hand away when she was walking with hands outstretched at one point).
As many have mentioned, there is a porta-potty at the bottom of the downhill portion - almost at the 1 mile mark. It was stocked with toilet paper and not disgusting.
The salmonberries are still growing - saw a few green ones not yet ripe. The Rhodys are starting to bloom and we saw a couple of trees with beautiful flowers, but the trail isn't full of them. Maybe 2 or 3 the whole hike that were bloomed.
The tide was low today, we arrived about 2 hrs after the low point so there was still a lot of exposed beach. This beach was unusually covered in snails. Little cone-shaped snails and tiny little black snails peppering the beach. I saw a heron in the distance but it was too far to get a pic with my phone. We found a few teeny tiny crabs, but no large ones like we've been seeing at Penrose Point. The beach has views of the Olympics, even on an overcast day. We didn't stay long because it was quite breezy and cold.
After the beach we turned around and went to the stump house. While the kids were playing, we were joined by a large group of people. Many of the people we saw today came from camping at Scenic Beach State Park, which I've heard is nice but have not visited myself. We didn't really encounter many people on trail with the exception of the stump house.
On the way up my son saw the large group had gone up the road next to the porta potty instead of the main trail. I looked at the map and saw it connected to the main trail so I agreed that we could go that way too, although we never caught up with that group who was already quite a bit ahead of us. Going this way was nice because there were less trip-hazard (roots) and it was nice and wide (no nettle-risk). The kids were very slow going from this point on.
I'm doing the 52 Hike Challenge with my kids this year and this is hike #20 for us!
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