This is a nice system of trails.  I intended to do a triple loop on the Lighthouse Point trail, Lottie Point trail, and Rosario Head.  

The trail from the Bowman Bay parking lot to the Lighthouse Point tombolo had a blowdown that was rather brushy and required me and my kids to push branches out of the way.  Aside from that, the majority of the trails were in pretty good shape.

Looking at a Caltopo map, there is a trail on the north side of Lighthouse Point.  This trail is not shown on Google Maps.  I did the loop counter-clockwise to avoid hiking with the morning sun in my eyes.  It was rather difficult to find where the north-side trail split off from the Lighthouse Point Loop trail.  There were a couple of social trails in that direction, but none of them were a strong match for where my GPS said the trail would be.  I took one of them, and with some frequent route-finding I was eventually able to get onto the trail shown on my GPS.  Even after I was on the "trail", it was difficult to stay on it.  The northern trail was brushy, and there were also some recent minor blowdowns that obscured the trail.  There were also a couple of social trails that were equally poorly defined but made me constantly wonder if I had chosen the right trail.  Despite the challenge, it was fun.  I was surprised to find such a wilderness experience so close to civilization.  The trail was kind of like the trail to Mailbox Peak in places, except it constantly went up and down, was hard to follow, and there weren't any people.  A clockwise trip might have been easier, though a couple I met going that way had also experienced some issues finding the trail.

Eventually I made it around to the Lighthouse Point Loop trail and the going got much easier.  As the day progressed, the number of people on the trail picked up as well.  I was surprised how many people there were considering it was a week day.

Google Maps shows tidepools on the north side of the tombolo on the way to Rosario Head.  Low-tide was rapidly approaching at 2:30 (a +2.5' low), so I abandoned my plans of doing the Lottie Point Loop and instead went directly to Rosario Head.  At this tide level, I was able to walk from the Lighthouse Point tombolo back to the parking lot on the beach (this was not possible earlier in the morning with the higher tide).

The tide pools were ok.  There were a couple of anemones, but most of them were closed up.  They were interesting to see since I was already there, but I wouldn't make them the primary destination.  It was nice to see the sea grass and plants swaying gently in the waves.

Overall it was a great day.  I enjoyed sitting in the sun, listening to the waves and seeing bald eagles, dolphins, herons, seals, and some other birds.

The sun finally came out so I took the pup to Rosario Head near Deception Pass.  We parked at Pass Lake and hiked the Bowman Bay Trail to the bluffs at Rosario Head.  The recent wind and rain has scattered branches and debris on the trails; beware the tripping hazards.  A few trees are down, but the big ones have already been cut so the hiking is largely unhindered.  The campground at Bowman Bay is muddy and has several large trees down from what looks like wind damage.  Trees were snapped in two or uprooted completely.  Luckily, none of the historic CCC structures were hit.  I was also happy to see new plaques to replace the faded, illegible ones at the statue of Ko'kwal'alwoot.  Reading her story is always one of my favorite parts about visiting the park.

The crowds were thin today despite the perfect weather.  The trails were certainly more crowded in the afternoon, but in all, we only passed about 15 parties in 3 hours of roaming.  Mask usage was sporadic; maybe 60% masked.

Tons of people today, as it was MLK Day AND a state park free day.

The trail between Rosario Bay and Bowman Bay was in great shape, but a lot of blowdown on the trail to Lighthouse Point. Several trees were down on the trail that required climbing over. Plenty of other trails to explore in the area if that’s not your cup of tea.

Gorgeous day to be at Deception Pass!

The storm two days earlier took a toll on the area. The area around Bowman Bay has a lot of big trees down, some uprooted and some broken off. All of them fell to the east. The good news is that none of them came down on any of the historic CCC built structures.

We began at the Rosario Beach area and went up on the headland and then took the trail starting above Sharpe Cove that skirts the north side of Bowman Bay. At the bay we passed a backhoe removing large driftwood from the boat launch and could hear chainsaws and a wood chipper groaning away up from the beach. On the headland, on the east side of the bay, there is a large tree across the trail that can only be climbed over. The tombolo trail is obliterated on its north end with driftwood and gravel pushed up on it. Even the pond next to Lottie Bay is full of seaweed and driftwood and the bushes along the edge have been swept away or flattened. We did a loop on Reservation Head and the trails there are in good condition. There is a tree down on the trail near the start but it was there before the storm.  

We had our lunch overlooking the pass and watched seals rolling around below. They appeared to be watching us also. On the way back we met a couple of people at Bowman Bay who were doing a monthly survey for COASST (Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey) www.coasst.org

A beautiful day to hike the vista rich trails of Deception Pass on this classic winter hike.  We parked at Bowman Bay arriving around 11:00 to an almost full lot.  First we took the cliff side trail over to Rosario Head and then returned to hike the other way over to Lighthouse Point.  We then did the loop trail around Lighthouse Point which kept trail traffic in check, but I could not find the trail junction for the second loop that Caltopo shows looping around the north side of the point.  On returning to the causeway I think I saw a path/junction but it looked more like a social trail so not sure if that extra loop is legit.

On returning to our car we ended our day with lunch in the warm sun at one of the picnic tables in the expansive meadow area near the beach.  Lots of tables to choose from and easy to distance from others.

Mask usage was very high, just the usual few who don't think passing on narrow trails requires any extra level of caution.  But as the day wore on the number of other hikers just kept on increasing until we were constantly passing others and/or stepping aside which after a while detracts from the whole experience. 

If I were doing this again I think I would park at the Rosario Head lot which is quieter, and I would definitely get here much earlier.