Pacific Northwest Trail, Deception Pass State Park - North Beach — Friday, Aug. 3, 2012

Puget Sound and Islands

I parked at the parking lot south of Deception Pass Bridge, crossed under the bridge and took the Goose Rock Perimeter Trail in my quest to continue day hiking the Pacific Northwest Trail on Whidbey Island. It was a nice day, and although Deception Pass was thronged with people, I only encountered a few other people on the perimeter trail. I took the path headed towards the park headquarters, skirting past the ELC. I knew that there was supposed to be a trail that would take me to Cornet Bay Road, but wasn't really sure where that was. I happened to see a pink flag hanging from a tree marking a faint trail that looked like it was going the right direction so I followed it. It quickly turned into a real trail that some one has put a lot of time and effort into recently. Blow downs were chainsawed out of the way and several logs were peeled and stacked like they were planning to build something. I suspect it might be a board walk over a particularly boggy section. Thank goodness I had my trekking poles while I traversed that area, and that the trail on the other side was flagged so that I knew that it continued. A little way beyond that I came to Cornet Bay Road. Success!! I retraced my steps back to the Discovery Trail and I took that, hoping that it would lead me back to my car. To my shock, I discovered that the trail goes underneath Highway 20 via a little tunnel. I've driven that highway hundreds of times and never knew that a trail went beneath it. Discovery Trail connected into North Beach Trail which led me back up to my car. The hike today was from map 08-05 downloaded from www.pnt.org