With rain in the forecast on Saturday, we headed to Whidbey Island for a seaside hike. We have hiked Ebey’s Landing a few times in the past, and it has always been one of our favorites to do in the fall or winter. Even on a cloudy day like Saturday, the bluff and sea are still a spectacular setting for a hike.
When we arrived at the trailhead around 2 PM, there were a few other cars but it was easy to find a parking spot. We started hiking towards the bluff and could see some small glimpses of sun trying to peek through the clouds. Hiking through this stretch of trail was beautiful, as we could see the prairie and farmland stretch right up to the edge of the bluff to meet the sea. It was somewhat windy, but once we turned right onto the bluff trail, the wind was mostly at our backs.
We started to get rained on as we hiked along the bluff, but the showers didn’t last long. Pretty soon, we saw patches of blue sky above us – it looked like we would avoid rain for the rest of the hike. There was a steep section of trail right when we turned onto the bluff trail, and we stopped part of the way up to take some photos at a viewpoint. The trail flattened out, and soon we turned the corner and got our first view of the lagoon below. The Strait of Juan de Fuca stretched out to the horizon, and a container ship was making its way into Puget Sound. This section of trail was flat and made for quick hiking, and soon we were descending towards the beach.
By the time we reached the beach, there was a lot of blue sky above us. Walking on the sand slowed us down on the way back, but it was fun to beachcomb and skip rocks as we walked. We were walking into the wind, although it seemed like it was calmer than before. The Olympic Mountains were trying to peek through the clouds, but we could mostly only see the foothills across the water. We kept our eyes out for seals and other sea life, but we didn’t see any besides some seabirds. Clouds started to move back in as we got closer to where we rejoined the bluff trail. There were a few more short rain showers, but they didn’t last longer than a few minutes.
We turned left when we reached the lower parking lot to climb up the stairs back to the bluff trail. We walked between the farmland and the sea, then turned right on the prairie trail to head back to the parking lot we started from. It took us around 2 and a half hours in total to complete the loop. We had a great time getting out in the fall air and were grateful to get some decent weather while we hiked along the sea.
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