A great family adventure day visiting the beach, walking through the woods, riding the ferry, and checking out troll sculptures. Started the day off with some thunder and heavy rain but we’re treated to warm temperatures and rainbows later in the day. Stopped at Cafe Luna for coffee and a solid breakfast burrito and frittata as we waited for the rain to die down. Then we did a short walk to visit the Bird King, and followed the trails down to the lighthouse and beach. We spent a while walking the beach and admired the big leaf maple displays at both Point Robinson and Lincoln Park. Getting off the ferry it was a short walk to visit the other troll and it made for a great family day. We got some treats at the Vashon Bakery and enjoyed our pastries thoroughly. We had already visited the West Seattle Troll, don’t use the map on the troll website if you want to find it just walk towards Colman Pool, we ended up exploring a lot of Lincoln park on our last trip but it was a great day anyways we’re exceedingly lucky to have such awesome scenery and art near the city.

The king of the Northwest Thomas Dambo trolls is here.  It is just a short walk from the parking area.  It is very popular, but everyone was pleasant and would get out of the way so you could get a picture.

There still are other attractions here.  Such as trails, a lighthouse, a rocky beach, and views of Mount Rainier.

There are portable toilets.

The lower parking lot was closed to the general public, but the upper lot is open.  

I recommend the lighthouse discussion from Captain Joe, it was very informative. 

I couldn’t go to the top of the lighthouse because it was under repair. They expect to have repairs completed by the end of June.

Vashon Island!
Quick 20 minute ferry ride and then about 40 minutes from the ferry to Point Robinson Park. Fun to see seals playing in the water - just lovely walking along the beach area. 

Today our hiking group went exploring on Vashon and Maury Islands and we had a fantastic time.  We caught the Faunterloy Ferry and started our first hike at Shingle Mill Creek on the north end of Vashon.  We started at the Shingle Mill Creek upper Th (ShingleMill Creek Natural Area) off SW 156th street at 10:00 AM and wound our way down to Fern Cove with a lollipop loop on Bill’s Trail. Temperatures were in the low 50’s with overcast skies. The trails were well maintained with recent upgrades to bridges over the creek and no major debris on the trails.  A few locals were out dog walking and trail running.  Down at Fern Cove the tide was out and we saw many shore birds and raft full of seals just off shore.  Next up on our day we headed down to Dockton Forest and Maury Island Natural Area.  We hiked a counterclockwise loop on the upper bluffs to the open viewing platform over looking Federal Way, Dash Point and Mt Rainier to the south.   All the trails here were dry and a duff of downed cones and fir branches dotted trails.  The winds picked up early afternoon and large tree debris was falling when we walked out of the forest just before 3:00PM.  Trail traffic in both parks was super light being midweek.  Our last stop of the day was Point Robinson Park and Lighthouse. The lighthouse appears to be undergoing refurbishing so no chance to go inside.  The beach is littered with piles of huge beach logs.  Fun for beach combing.  We definitely plan to come back for future exploring.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.