We stopped at Miller Peninsula Park today on our drive home from 3 day hiking trip to Olympic National Park. It felt great to get in another hike and stretch our legs. One member of our hiking group had hiked here previously so we decided to check it out. We started from Diamond Pt Blvd at the SE corner of the park. There was space for 2 cars in front of a closed gate and shoulder parking beyond that. It was mostly sunny skies and 62 degrees when we started out.  Our 5.8 mile route followed Fireweed Road, Bluff Trail Cutoff, Bluff to Beach Trails 1 & 2 for a lollipop hike down to the beach and back. The first portion of the trail was old service or logging roads. Once you start on the Bluff trail routes they were single file trails through the woods. It’s mostly an evergreen forest with a few madrona, maple and alder trees as you neared the coastline. A couple stands of cedars were in low spots. The understory was a combination of head high ferns, nettles, salal and wild rhododendrons. It would be fun to come back late spring when these are in bloom. If you like wandering in solitude this park is for you. We only saw 2 other hikers the whole time we were out hiking. Wildlife sightings were limited to a squirrel, frog and a seal and shore birds down on the beach. A fog layer was hanging out in the strait of Juan de Fuca beyond Protection Island. We sat on beach driftwood and enjoyed a leisurely lunch break. The beach was 90% in the shade and it felt cool with a breeze off the sound. Most in our group added another clothing layer. A few pesky hornets were attracted to the smell of our lunch food. Beach trail 1 had a garbage can down at the beach but that was it for amenities. There were no toilets on our route. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.

Beautiful hike, some of the trail markers don't use the same names as the trail map, but it wasn't too hard to figure out which paths to take. 

Great year-round beautiful trail. “Well-marked” but not well-mapped, unfortunately. Just don’t expect trail names in signs to match trail names on map. For example, “Cable Trail” not noted on map; park maps do not distinguish between West Diamond and East Diamond; and there are trails in reality that aren’t on the map.

Lovely hike today in this lush forest area that takes you down to the beach where you can see Protection Island. Pretty muddy in some spots, but not horrible. We will definitely be back again!

Every New Year’s Day we hike or snowshoe. I was hoping to avoid rain so we headed to the peninsula….lovely winter hike through the woods. Went to the beach (which is small… at least at high tide) and added the bluff loop for an 8 mile total hike. Few people. Trails surprisingly not very muddy. Small parking lot tho due to the many many horse trailers…