South Whidbey State Park — Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025

I hadn't been to the park since the early 80s when we took our kids camping here. Well, the young kids are now in their 40s. A lot has changed since then with the closing of the campground and the addition to the park of the forest on the other side of the road where the trails are now. There is a nice info sign in the upper parking lot with the history of saving it from the lumber mills. Anyway, to the trail conditions. We did the outer loop, Wilbert trail, Ridge Loop trail and Fern Gully. Be sure and stop and check out the old cedar tree on the Fern Gully, it's the oldest, but there are other large old trees along the way. The east side of the Wilbert is muddy and a bit slick, better to do the loop counterclockwise so you're not coming down thru this. The Fern Gully and north side of the Ridge had nice boardwalks thru most of the mud. We retraced some of our steps to get 3.5 miles. Crossing back thru the parking lot (with a stop at the restroom, in great shape) We hiked thru the ghost like former campground to the Hobbit trail and found a nice bench at the end with a view of the water (but not much today, gray on gray) where we ate our lunch. We saw no Hobbits, but them Hobbits are small, soft footed and hide well, so you never know. A Hobbit would be disappointed in the mushrooms however, most were pretty soggy. There is currently no beach access.