Hiked this with my daughter, though a slightly different loop than the one described, and likely less mileage. We started at the North Parking Lot and headed toward the loop trail. We followed the signs to North Bluff and North Beach Trail - this was what we took to get down to the beach. A series of stairs take you to hidden beachlet - rocky rather than sandy and often empty - there were four other people there on Saturday. Just a nice first view of the water. Head back to the asphalt trail, very easy at this point and go toward the lighthouse. A few folks passed us - like three or four, but we mostly had this part of the trail to ourselves. By the way, this was a sunny Saturday, around 9 AM ... least crowded trail all season ...
The tide was out and we could see a heron fishing. Closer to the lighthouse, an Osprey was hanging out on a tower (and then took a bath in the water). A cedar Waxwing was buzzing away in a tree.
On the way back, we headed up the other side of the loop. When we came to the Hidden Valley Trail, we decided to see where that went. A nice little forested trail with a bridge over a stream, and steps going up. Rejoined he loop trail and back to the north parking lot.
I have to say, I have never gotten to the beach the same way twice - but this was a fun ramble! Oh, and another first for the year - there were still parking spots available in the lot :)
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