Gazzam Lake Nature Preserve — Sunday, May. 11, 2025

Distance: 4 miles
Elevation gain: 550 feet

We started from the Main Parking Lot (south end, near Peters Trail), where there's parking for maybe 10 cars and a toilet (with water and a flush button, but no sink). We followed an AllTrails route generally, without the loopy diversions, staying along the main trail to the west of the lake. We took the Springridge (or is it Close?) Trail down to the water, which offers a different trail experience (steep switchbacks on a narrow path; this is where most of the elevation loss and eventual gain came from). We heard many birds and an early owl on our way back.

The Lake: We took two doglegs off the main trail to try to glimpse the lake. The first got us close but was too overgrown to bother with. The second got us the pictured view out into the marshy edge of the lake.

The Beach: The trail peters out at the exposed roots of some cantilevered trees hanging out over a pebble beach. Once you're standing at root level, there is no clear established way to get to the actual beach surface (all ways seemed to involve putting weight on bare roots), so we just admired the Port Orchard view from a couple feet above it and headed back.