Many folks know about the western portion of the Ebey Waterfront trail starting near the boatramp in Marysville for views of the big tidal estuary. But did you know there is a whole eastern section as well? Up until recently there wasn’t a very easy way to connect the two. But big news - a new section of trail running along Allen Creek to a new trailhead along 61st St NE across the street from the big Sikh temple is now complete and open and puts you an easy 350yd shoulder walk away from the western end of the whole eastern section of the trail. See 2nd pic below for the route map.
Our route was a basic out and back starting at the boatramp at Ebey Waterfront Park. Parking there is free and relatively plentiful. Full restrooms were open and in average condition. This western section is traditional suburban paved mixed use along the levee tops. There is trail signage at the parking lot about trail closures, however there were none seen currently and suspect the signs remain from the big flooding we had recently. There is some evidence of levee overwash along the trail but no damage or blocking issues. The new trail section splits off to the north about half way to the main viewpoint and follows Allen Creek to the new small trailhead along 61st St NE. There is room for about 6 cars here and no other facilities.
From this new trailhead we walked east along 61st St NE about 350 yards to where the eastern portion of the trail starts, initially as a newly surfaced very wide sidewalk, then splits off closer to the estuary running between housing developments and the water and finally turning back west ending where the levee has been breached to make the estuary. Additional access to this eastern section can be made at two small City of Marysville parks - Harborview Park and Olympic View Park, each offer a little bit of parking and access to the trail. Total out and back mileage for the full route ended up at about 8.2 miles with virtually no gross vertical.
Wildlife was plentiful today - bald eagles, heron, a number of different types of ducks each in large numbers, red tail hawk, what I’m pretty sure was a turkey vulture, plus sparrows, house finches, all sorts of gulls, etc. There were even quite a few frogs out croaking particularly along the new section of trail. Views from the western section are nice, particularly on a clear day and the eastern section has very nice views of the other side of the estuary which is more open and much farther away from traffic noise and the water treatment facility. A nice little walk that now with a trail addition can be a much longer walk with even more super nice views and wildlife to see.
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