Ebey's Landing — Friday, Dec. 28, 2012

Puget Sound and Islands > Whidbey Island

The GOOD: Beautiful views from this relatively easy hike. Close enough to Seattle and under the snow line. There is a small lagoon in the middle of the trail loop, its water is salty and somewhat muddy but it is still a nice spot to take a break, rest and enjoy a snack. The BAD: We highly recommend (highly) that once you get down to the "beach" area, you hang out for a bit and then hike back up the hill. If you actually do the "loop," by hiking back to the trailhead through the beach, beware the shore is not sandy but rocky. Very rocky and slick. It drizzled all through our hike today and the trail was pretty muddy and slick. There are no real trails up the hill once you start walking down the beach. My wife hurt her knee and we decided to take a short cut and instead of walking until the end of the beach, we climbed up the side of the steep hillside. BIG MISTAKE! The vegetation is "thorny," and there is an abundance of small cacti; both of us got stung. A lot. Conclusion: Although a short hike, it ended up not being a very fun hike in the end. It is beautiful though and even in today's rainy, overcast afternoon, we were able to take some very nice photos of the coastline and mountains in the background. Bring water (there are no fresh water sources) and a wind breaker as the hike gets very little protection from foliage.