A quick day trip over to Whidbey Island to visit South Whidbey Island State Park. It was very quiet as we always find it since camping closed in 2015.

We wandered the campsite roads and did the Forest Discovery Trail (north). Saw very few people. A couple walking their beagles and someone from the park service. The old growth trees are gorgeous and the views down to the water from the bluff are beautiful. (The beach trail is closed.)

2 miles in total. The phone booth always makes us nostalgic. Pretty sure it still works. Almost as exotic as the ancient trees. ;)

With work dragging me out to Whidbey, I thought I'd take my daughter along. Stopped to check out the park. Pulled into the main lot and threw up our Discovery Pass around 11:30. The closed campground loops made for excellent 5-year old biking before we ventured onto the Wilbert Trail across 525.

Wonderful little path through the woods with an obligatory stop to ogle the Ancient Cedar. Passed any number of wonderful foliage and didn't realize how much you can miss the scent of skunk cabbage and cedar duff. Ventured out onto the Fern Gully trail, nicely trimmed and cleared. Rounded the Ridge Top trail and completed the loop for a wonderful return to the woods.

We came across 6 people, 2 of whom were masked and the other 4 guiltily pulled shirts over their faces and said things like "left 'em in the car!" as we--bemasked--went by.

Beautiful trail close to the beach, but beach access is currently closed.  There were a lot of people on the west end of the trail, presumably looking for beach access but my daughter and I took the longer of the trails going to the east and it was great with very few people.  It was a little boggy and muddy near the north end of the trail, but there were wood planks to walk on and drier patches at the edges of the trail.  There was a beautiful old-growth cedar near the north end of the trail.  Beware the hobbit trail near the campsites!!  LOTS of nettle on this fairly steep 0.2 mile incline to a gorgeous view of the water in mid-May.

First time at this park and the family loved it! We arrived at 9:30am and there was only two other cars. There is a map of the trails and restrooms in the large parking lot just before the campgrounds. The trailhead is across the road and it splits off into two trails (Wilbert and Ridge). We took the Ridge trail first which leads to the Fern Gully trail, we stopped at the Ancient Cedar and looped back using the Wilbert Trail (Note, the beach access trail here is currently closed). Only ran into 3 small groups of people on the trail and it was very easy to maintain social distance as we passed each other.

The scenery is this beautiful mixture of old growth, dense woods, fern filled ravines, and wetland rich with foliage. Just as you get familar with an area it changes which keeps this short day hike interesting. As for the trails themselves, they are in great shape and a breeze to hike. All fallen trees have been removed or cut, and the underbrush does not encroach on the trail anywhere. There were a few muddy spots but nothing major (most spots had loose wood planks to step on).

Our two kids (13 and 3 years old) loved this hike. Just long enough to tire them out but not too long to make a grumpy toddler. The trail difficulty wise is very kid friendly (the little one was able to walk the whole thing) and it has some great interpretive signs for them along the way.

We were on Whidbey Island visiting Double Bluff, and decided to stop by South Whidbey State Park as well before heading back to the ferry.  Our son saw there was a trail called the "hobbit trail" here and wanted to check it out.  We hiked this trail, which was nice but very short. He was looking for signs of Frodo and Bilbo, but no luck.  The beach access trail here is closed.  We did a couple other short trails around the campground while we were here.