Pacific Northwest Trail, Fort Ebey State Park & Kettles Trail System — Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012

Puget Sound and Islands

I parked at the beach at Fort Ebey State Park and took the bluff trail towards the old military fort. The official Pacific Northwest Trail goes past Fort Ebey State Park along the beach. However, I've hiked the beach trail and in my personal opinion, the beach area just below the Point Partridge Lighthouse is brutal with the rocks and should only be done at low tide. The bluff trail is a nice alternative route if the tides are wrong or you just want a little easier walk than the rocky beach. Plus the views are stellar! The bluff trail was nice with many beautiful views of the ocean. I continued past the fort down the trail to where the group camping site is. There were no campers there so I hopped the little wooden fence and cut through the site. You could also detour around this group area along the trail. Interestingly, on the information board at the group site it had an old map (1999) that showed what used to be a route down to the beach along Cedar Hollow Trail. This route washed out around 2006 but an occasional intrepid PNT thru hiker will scramble down where that trail used to be. From there I continued onto Cedar Hollow Trail and passed the old DNR camping area. There are still a couple outhouses and some flat spaces for tents. No water is available there, although you could get some back at the group camping site. Continuing on down into a saddle is another great ocean view. A wooden fence and sign warns to keep off, but when you look over the edge you can see pink flags mark the steep scramble down to the beach. If that route looks too sketchy to you (it did to me!)or the tides are high, there is another alternate route. Continue on up the Cedar Grove Trail and after ascending it will then begin to drop down. When you see the little ceramic ghost sitting in a tree, look for an unsigned short cut on the right side of the trail. There is a little rock cairn by a tree trunk and a pink flag. Take that trail and it passes under some electric lines and connects in with Kettles Trail. Kettles Trail goes out towards highway 20 and eventually begins to parallel highway 20. When you get to Sherman Road turn right and walk a half mile until you go past Sunnyside Cemetery. Follow the Jacob Ebey House Bluff Trail past the old log stockhouse and the recently restored historic Jacob Ebey house, out to Ebey's Landing. From there you can continue on down to the beach to resume your beach walk on the PNT. I actually turned around when I got to Kettles trail and returned to my car, where I drove to Sunnyside Cemetery, parked, and took the Jacob Ebey House Bluff Trail out to the ocean. It was a nice hike on an unexpectedly beautiful day.