Parking is on the opposite side of the road as the trailhead. Right now, even after several sunny days, the entrance is a bit muddy. Nothing impassable though. 

A previous trip report says something about the trail being partially a creek. The recent sunny weather must have dried it up because there was no creek. Just part of the hike was really soft and had more bugs. 

There are a lot of trail options but none are really marked, except the signs telling you to stay out of the reserve area. We ended up staying to the right on many of the turns and then once we got to a point where we wanted to go back, we started making left turns. Ended up making a bit of a loop out of it. 

The woods were very quiet and it was nice to get away on a Friday morning. 

UPDATE: The gate has been removed at Camano Ridge Road.  You may now drive up the road to a new parking lot.  The trail has been brushed and cleared.  All trails are in good condition except the transverse trail to the SE from the Forest Loop trail.  That trail is currently a stream for about 1/3 mile, but you can walk beside the water.

It was a sunny morning with rain forecast for the afternoon, so I headed for the nearest trail.

The forest is fresh with spring growth in many shades of green.  Robins are abundant, and the Salmon berries are blooming.  I found a Red Flowering Current shrub in full bloom and appreciated the beautiful contrast to the greenery.

Fresh air and exercise in the forest is a great way to start the day. 

With clouds changing from overcast to scattered, I decided to shake off misery of rainy days by doing some short and easy hike. With just an hour drive from Lynnwood, I was at the TH at 4.30 pm. There were no cars around the TH and no people on the trail, ideal choice for ones seeking for some solitude. The trailhead is a bit further than WTA shows. My iPhone compass defines it at 48.213333, -122.482222. It's marked with a tiny arrow and a small piece of paper with trail's name. Trail was wet and muddy today - no surprise! - but still easy to navigate. With numerous junctions and weak signage, be sure to follow directions in trail description. I missed to turn left on the fourth junction and had to turn around at some point. The trail is a mix of ups and downs, so you'll get a tiny bit of workout. Saw several birds on my way. Hike took me 45 mins overall, should have been even less if I followed WTA's tips. Nothing really special, still a new place to discover and quite a peaceful and quiet forest trail.

The rain seemed forecast to stay south, so we headed north to try out Camano Island trails. The day started at the Camano Ridge Forest Preserve. Turn up the Can Ku Road, head up the hill and around the curve. Just past where Google Maps says "you have arrived" there is a yellow marker and trailhead post. There is room enough for a handful of cars to park on the side of the road. We headed up the trail, which has a fair amount of gain right at the beginning. After a few minutes of uphill, you come out of the trees and into a more open trail. A short way further, the trail splits. We took the lefthand option, then we stayed left again at the next split. About 1.5 miles into the hike, if you stayed left at each option, you come to the gate mentioned in previous trip reports. It looked like it was onto private property, so we turned around. When we reached the most immediate fork in the road, we opted to go to the left (the right-hand choice on our way in), and it took us down another semi-clear trail for another half mile or so. Just when it looked like the trail was ending, it actually narrows a bit and goes into the woods. We meandered through the woods, always choosing the lefthand option when presented with a fork in the trail. This went on for about a mile or so, then we found ourselves back on the open trail, heading toward the very first fork. It worked out very well. By the time we were back at the car, it was just shy of a 4-mile trek. The trees in the woods are fabulous, and other than the gain at the beginning, it's a mellow, up and down kind of trail. No wildlife sightings. I was really hoping for an owl. :-) Leaving the Preserve, we went toward the Camano Island State Park. The young pup (5mos.) along for the adventure was pretty tired, so we kept it short, taking the Loop Trail to the south beach area, then walking the beach back to the parking area. We added just a touch over 2-miles to the day's tally. We didn't see anyone on the Preserve trail. It was a good first trail for a young, nervous pup. The weather was beautiful, but windy, so we saw just a handful of people at the beach. Both trails were in really good shape. No visible trash. No real obstacles. I would recommend the Preserve trails for families looking for a relatively close to Seattle hike that isn't too challenging, but still offers time in the woods with cool trees.

Well, I can't let Geezerhiker be the only one talking about the Camano Ridge Forest Preserve. As part of "free time" on my annual women's retreat, we headed over to try some hiking on Camano Island.  It had been raining enthusiastically all day and no one really wanted to climb without hope of a view.  This hike was nearby and would offer an opportunity for good company to wander in between raindrops but not have to commit to a lengthy soaking. The Camano Ridge Forest Preserve is a 400 acre once owned by DNR that the island has set aside to protect as aquifer recharge and wildlife habitat.  It offers hikers, bikers and equestrians a variety of paths from old roads to established trails to faint boot paths.  There are two access points, one off the Camano Ridge Road and one off the Can Ku Road.  We opted for the Can Ku TH because one of us had hiked in this way before. We parked at the Camano Park and animal shelter on the SR, mostly because there really isn't parking up at the TH.  Because my friend wasn't entirely sure how they had gotten up to the Can Ku TH from here, we wandered a bit up past the Camano Park and a side road before crossing back behind the Island Transit, through a gate and up Can Ku Road. You can just keep to the right of the shelter and walk up Can Ku Road and past the transit area.  It's a nice little hill and warm up to the hike! The trail head is marked by a small yellow arrow on the right hand side of the road.Consulting our booklet, it looked like we could make a big loop counterclockwise so we headed in and tried to keep to the right.  There was a main trail to follow and some more yellow markers along the way.  There were various boot paths, bike trails and fences blocking off vegetation rehabilitation. After about an hour of meandering, we ran into a gate and the end of an old road close to North Camano Ridge Road.At this point the group decided it was time to start making our way back to the car, so we turned around followed the same track back out.  Our "loop" turned out to be more of a crossing of the ridge. On the way back down the road, we stopped at the Kristoferson Creek Beaver Marsh right cross from the Island Transit, something you might miss if you just drive up the road.I'd love to return with a booklet of my own and see if I can spend more time exploring and making the rounds on the loops and boot paths.  It looks like someone could have a lot of fun getting "lost" in the solitude here.  MOre pics and GAIA in the link below.