A gorgeous summer day for a hike! We headed out from the trailhead early in hopes of having the trail to ourselves. No such luck, as this loop is extremely popular, but it was relatively quiet and most people wore masks. We did end up getting a little lost, as did other parties that we came across. The trail could use some additional signage at turns. Back on the beach after our hike, we had the absolute pleasure of seeing a family of otters playing! What a treat!! 

I love Deception Pass - and even though we came on a Friday with plans to camp at Fort Ebey along the way back down south, there were no crowds or masses of people I was expecting. I was surprised - usually it's busy here, and with the pandemic, I've heard it was insane. But just some families playing in the sand, or having a socially distanced picnic, or eating a seafood shrimp boil they brought along from home that made my mouth water.

This trail is pretty easy to follow, but the signage is only okay. There are signs pointing to different places, but sometimes it seems they're missing a direction or two! Overall it really doesn't matter - as long as you wander around aimlessly along these paths, you'll find some beautiful lookouts and gorgeous scenery. Honestly you don't need a trail guide once you park at a beach (we did Rosario, but both Rosario and Bowman had parking spots at noon on a Friday), just start walking on the trail along the water. I didn't see any wildlife, but I'm pretty bad at looking along the water line. Lots of cool seaweed in the water from the viewpoints above.

Not many people masked. Some willing to pull off, some going around, but a lot of day goers from Seattle just goofing around and I think assuming they were fine without one. If you just stay by the beaches and maybe do a quick jaunt, you'll be fine to avoid people. But longer, thinner trails were more difficult to stay perfectly COVID-19 safe.

Not too busy for being a Friday afternoon. The Bowman Bay beach area was popular but we had most of the trails to ourselves. The views are beautiful and I enjoyed seeing the many beaches and rock structures along the trail. Overall the trails are easy and easy to follow. WITH ONE EXCEPTION: I've attached the WTA trail map to this trip report and shadowed one of the adjoining trails in red. We followed the adjoining trail thinking it would easily loop around back to Bowman Bay. We were wrong. The trail is hard to follow at times and at one point (marked with an X) leads sharply downhill just to end at the water so we had to scramble back up. Ya know, like using your hands on the uphill ground and grabbing tree roots to balance. The good news is you can't truly get lost on this trail since lighthouse point is surrounded by water, but it was an annoyance to us and likely an accident waiting to happen for young children or anyone less nimble.

We hiked this trail on a Monday afternoon, after spending the foggy early afternoon at Rosario beach. When we arrived to the beach around noon, there were several parking spaces left. 

The Lighthouse Trail was leisurely and beautiful. We saw otters, a young seal, crabs and fish. Around 4:00, we stopped at Lottie Bay to play, and had the sandy beach to ourselves. Bowman Beach neighbors Lottie, but was crowded due to boat rentals and restrooms (open with soap) and near a parking lot. Lottie waters were a little cold but definitely swimable, and even as the tide was coming in waters were shallow enough for young kids to play, measuring knee deep in adults more than 20 feet out.  

90% of people were wearing masks throughout the day. The bugs didn't seem bad but we did walk away with some bites. Parts of the trail are wooded, but I'd definitely recommend lots of sunscreen because there are wonderful sunny vistas and beach options along the way. 

Great easy hike to nice cliffs overlooking the north sound.  My son and I decided to hoist ourselves up the steep exposed incline that take you to the Lighthouse Point.  Really more of an intermittent island depending on the tide. There is a rope in place to descend down to the rocky gap then a another rope that you definity must completely rely on to pull yourself up onto the point.  A fall here wouldn't turn out well so not for everyone.