Arrived at the parking lot by the cemetery around 11:30 on an April Saturday and the parking was about 80% full. The trail headed straight to the bluff, passing a field of yellow wildflowers, and then followed the bluff until going down to a rocky beach and looping back around to the field. The trail was not super busy, but was mostly single file so be prepared to step off the path to let oncoming hikers pass. Throughout the whole hike you either have a view of the field of wildflowers or of the water. It's a hike for the journey rather than destination. Overall the hike took 2 hours with a few stops for pictures.

Arrived at the seaside parking lot around 1pm on a Thursday, and had no trouble finding parking. We began our hike climbing the stairs up to the bluffs, took a loop around the Prairie Ridge Trail and Pratt Loop, and continued counterclockwise on the Bluff Loop  Trail. Starting with a climb and ending with a beach walk felt great to me, and the Prairie/Pratt loop added some variety to the scenery and terrain, plus some of the biggest dandelions we had ever seen. As someone else said - wildflowers are beginning to appear and should be even more stunning in the coming weeks.

Walking along the bluff made me feel like I was on the California coast! As someone with a mild fear of heights, I found the trail dizzying but not terrifying. The path was smooth and solid; I never felt unsafe but might hesitate to recommend this route (particularly the northern end of the bluff trail) to hikers who struggle with balance. 

Drawbacks were a strong fertilizer smell and the sound of fighter jets flying over, both most prominent in the prairie area and barely noticeable down on the shore. Personally these nuisances were 100% worth it for the expansive views, and ratio of quality to difficulty makes this a hike I would love to return to. And we saw lots of shorebirds and a couple sea lions (:

The parking lot near the cemetery, entered via Sherman Road, was closed this morning due to agricultural herbicidal spraying so I drove down to Cook Road onto Ebey and parked at the beach entrance. (The upper parking lot should be open now). I walked up to the Bluff trail. The bluff is very green and some flowers are starting to bloom. It should be quite pretty in a few weeks. The gnarled old trees along the bluff are awesome to see. When I descended down the trail, I took the inland trail along the "ponds" and eventually crossed over to the beach. There are unusual interesting plants amid the flat, log strewn path abutting the beach. I love this area and if you look closely you'll see small colorful plants and flowers. Small birds and sometimes eagles like to perch on the logs.

The beach is a wonderful place to explore. I always find something different and new. There are beautiful rocks, unique patterns of seaweed, sea creatures, ducks and sometimes seals cruising in the water. 

It was cloudy all day. The wind picked up in the afternoon making the beach walk a bit cold. Not many people today and the solitude was nice. 

We arrived at the trailhead near the Sunnyside Cemetry at 9am, and were only the third car to arrive. A chorus of birdsong welcomed us, with countless birds in the bushes, trees and foraging in the fields. It was well worth taking this longer route (rather than parking by the seaside), since we were able to enjoy the very pleasant and easy walk between the fields to the bluff, and saw plenty of Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings and more.

Bald Eagles were soaring at level with us as we arrived at the bluff, making for magnificent profile views of the birds. It's much easier to appreciate just how sharp their beak is from the side than it is from underneath!

We followed the trail counterclockwise, walking along the bluff first before heading down the switchbacks to the beach. The loop trail was more busy, and the seaside parking lot looked pretty full at a glance, however the trail itself was still plenty quiet enough to appreciate being in the outdoors.

Some of the bluff trail is quite narrow with a long, steep fall all the way down to the beach, but the view is clear enough that you can easily see whether anyone is coming, and when to find a passing place.

The switchback down to the beach was well maintained and easy going. We saw plenty more wildlife on the way back, a highlight including a Northern Harrier, which would hover very low, gliding over the grass.

There is a picnic bench down by the seaside parking, where we sat for lunch, but there's plenty of driftwood to sit on too. We got back to the parking lot near 2pm, and by then it was completely full. Though not surprising given how pleasant the weather was!

A visit to Coupeville made for a great end to the day: ice cream at Kapaws Iskreme, a wander around the shops, and finishing up with a drink at the Penn Cove Taproom.

We walked most of the way along the Bluff Trail and back, there were a decent number of people parked but we only saw a few others on the trail. Lots of wildflowers blooming and we saw multiple different eagles over two hours. Trail conditions were good and overall was a very nice day hike!