Two part trip report because these hikes are on opposite sides of the park. First up, we stopped at the Upland Trail while we were at the main park this morning, what a cool trail! We did it twice. It’s only 1/4 mile but incredibly beautiful! Highly recommend adding it to your hikes in the park. The lichen and greenery from this area was just stunning. 

Next we went over to Bowman Bay and hiked to Rosario. The wildflowers are coming! We saw 12 varieties of flowers including common paintbrush and fairy slippers! Once we got to Rosario, we were planning to check out the tide pools but Elsie Mae, the elephant seal, was taking a nap on the beach! What an amazing animal to see in the wild. We’ve seen her a few times over the years. The beach is blocked off to give her space and there were volunteers there talking about her. It was pretty windy but the temperature wasn’t bad. 

⚠️ warning: there is stinging nettle, hemlock and cows parsnip along the trails. Be mindful if you step off the trail. 

Clocked a wonderful 16 miles with a friend today. It was astonishingly sunny and warm (considering). I was anticipating extremely cold temps and while it was really chilly in the shade and the beach had some windchill, in the sun it was lovely and warm. So it was clutch to have gloves and lots of layers, and soup for lunch.

Pass Lake loop was gorgeous with really steep sections of fall line trail and a handful of trees that required some clambering to get over.

The loops down by the water were lovely; the balds were gorgeous as always and the water was moving fast. Some steep brushy bits on Lottie Point but nothing terrible.

The bridge had some repairs going, which were cool to look at as we walked by. The trail going down to the beach was nice and wide, and we walked down the beach for a while before cutting up to the trail itself via some side trails to access the beach trail before cutting across the point to West Beach. No issues to report here except some short mucky sections.

I was surprised by all the infrastructure near the North and West beaches. Really nice looking ampitheatre, picnic tables all over, and very nice (open) bathrooms at West Beach!

We had lunch on the beach after seeing an otter running into the water!! Then I got a chance to fly my hiking kite for a bit before putting it away and heading up to Goose Rock the back way. Steep steep steep up.

We enjoyed a nice view from the Rock and then headed back towards the cars. It was steep down to go around the lower forest Loop and Goose Perimeter Trail. All clear, then onto the bridge to the Pass Lake Lot.

I really like that PNT section between the bridge and Pass Lake parking lot. My knees were screaming on the downhill towards the end but the woods were lovely.

Photo 1 - Enjoying the view from Goose Rock late in the day
Photo 2 - hiking kiting
Photo 3 - Early morning visit to former WTA worksite, rock wall still looks good 10 years on

Great hiking across Bowman Bay hiking to Rosario Head, Lighthouse Point, and looping Goose Rock the bridge and the Goose Rock perimeter trail descending down to North Beach and West Beach to get close to 10 miles of running. The trail to the bridge is as always steep and overgrown but it’s easy to follow for an unofficial trail. Lots of photographers about and good wildlife viewing with seals, oyster catchers, bald eagles, and waterfowl. I did a plunge into Bowman Bay post run and found it warmer than expected it felt nice to ice the knee after the ups and downs. Great day out by the bay.

We arrived at the Bowman Bay parking lot around 12:30 on a beautiful January day. The lot was about 3/4 full as expected on a nice day. There are privies at the parking area and they were in decent shape today. You will need a Discover Pass to park in the lot. 

The Rosario Head trail is in pretty good shape. There is a little mud here and there on the trail and some mud in the grassy picnic area that you walk through to access the trail from the parking area. It's rocky and rooty in places so good boots or sturdy shoes are helpful. There are some nice viewpoints along the trail and the views are gorgeous from Rosario Head. There were lots of people out on the trail today but there was plenty of space at Rosario Head to spread out. 

We returned to the parking area and headed south along the beach to the Lighthouse Point trail. The trail runs south from the parking area to a closed bridge that was damaged in a storm. The trail is still accessible by going around the bridge onto the beach and following the beach to a point where the trail picks up again on your left near the bottom of a large cliff. This trail is also rocky and rooty as well as steep in a few places so a trekking pole was helpful for us today. The trail has some mud in spots and there is a tree down over the trail that was easily navigated by both human and canine legs today. The Lighthouse Point Loop has several great viewpoints and there were lots of people out soaking up sunshine today. 

We returned to the parking area around 3:30. Strava measured our distance for both hikes to be about 4.5 miles, which is a respectable distance for me on a January afternoon.