#4 of the 4 hikes done today. If you go on the main trail, continue to the end you come out at a beach, A great view of Mt Rainer.

2/4/09 Penrose & Joemma State Parks Today I decided to head to the beach since yesterday I was in the mountains. I wanted to knock 2 more state parks off my list. I discovered that my GPS lists state parks in the recreation folder, this really helped when I got turned around on the last mile or so trying to find Penrose. The brown signs only get you so far… Weather was awesome again! I was the only one in Penrose until the very end of the loop trail which is really well signed and maintained. Two women kind of startled me when I was taking pics of Rainer from Penrose Point. I explored around for 2 hours and then headed on to Joemma where I could have stayed all day. The birds were bathing and frolicking around I saw 2 blue herons in the cove. Next time I will bring a blanket and a book and just chill with my dog here for hours.. it was so peaceful, only saw 2 people at this park too. Not a bad drive from my place I was there in less than an hour. Really great day out exploring our fine state. Stats around 3 miles but I wasn’t really counting, 70 pictures taken and 3 hours of chilling out not worrying about what is going on with the country. Tomorrow will be back to reality and job search..

This is a shoreline state park in south Puget Sound, on the Key Peninsula southwest of Port Orchard and northwest of Gig Harbor. I had been here three times in the past, but not in a decade. The Washington State Parks website showed the park as being open for day use, but when I got there the gate was closed; I parked on the roadside just outside the park boundary and walked a short distance in. The bright side was that the closed gates combined with the weekday gave me the park all to myself, and I could walk on the park roads with dogs without worrying about traffic. Although the park is only about 150 acres, it took me nearly two hours to do the full hike around the park. Most of the hiking is on the south side of the park. While it is not a rustic mountain hike, winter conditions definitely applied: there were many blow-downs (I removed much of the smaller stuff from the trails as I went along) and several waterlogged trail spots, especially near the point itself. There was even a blow-down on the road leading into the park. (Presumably, THAT blow-down will be removed shortly if it hasn't been already.) However, the trails have some gravel in them so despite all the water there is relatively little mud to worry about. When I first came here in the early 90s, I walked some distance down the shore on the beach south of the point. This time that was impossible due to tide, downed trees, or both.