First hike of my San Juan Island birthday trip! I combined the four hikes listed into one 9ish mile mega hike (mostly on trail with just a couple spots of brief road walking). My Gaia route is in the pictures so you can see how I linked it up. It was a gorgeous hike with ocean bluffs, beach tidepools, flowery meadows, pretty forests, a lighthouse, wildlife sightings... pretty much everything one could ask for in a day hike. :)

We parked at American Camp and walked down to Grandma's Cove, to begin. I got very distracted looking at tidepools on the beach... I've never seen so many anemones in one place! Above Grandma's Cove, swallows swooped around the cliffs and over the water. We kept to the bluffs on the way to South Beach, where we ate lunch at a picnic table while enjoying beautiful views of the Olympics in the distance. We also saw a deer around here. Took a slightly indistinct trail up towards the road where we connected to the Mount Finlayson Trail. Reached the summit (such that it was... all 295 ft of elevation lol) and continued on towards Cattle Point Lighthouse. The views from Mount Finlayson were super pretty... Reminded me a little of Ireland with the coastal cliffs, green hills, and the lighthouse. We also saw a LOT of caterpillars on some of the scrubs up here... I'll include a picture... anyone know what species they are? 

Descended back to the bluffs, which we followed to the lighthouse, where we took another break. After leaving the lighthouse, I turned a corner on the trail and was astonished to see baby foxes sleeping right next to the trail, while momma fox was out hunting. They were so amazingly cute. I had really wanted to see foxes on this trip and I was so so happy. I made a separate trip report for Cattle Point Lighthouse (we came back again later in the trip, so it's not really cheating) to show off baby fox pictures. If I had been alone I would have just sat and watched foxes all day (the joys of hiking alone... no one to be impatient with me lol) but I was with my girlfriend so I took pity on her and continued our hike. We briefly walked on the road back up to the Mount Finlayson Trail, which we took until it intersected with the trail going down to Jakle's Lagoon. The trail here was super pretty forest... Just in general, the forests I saw on San Juan Island were lovely, and I'm picky about my forests. lol. The lagoon was really pretty with tons of driftwood about.

We took the same trail as earlier down towards South Beach, then took the upper meadow trail back to American Camp. Here we saw 3 more foxes, poking around in rabbit burrows (I think) looking for an easy meal. It was kind of wild, though, because the adult rabbits had ZERO fear of the foxes... There were dozens of rabbits chilling in the meadow, and the foxes were just weaving amongst them and none of them seemed perturbed. My theory is the rabbits know they're faster than the foxes so it's not really worth the energy to try to go for them? Either way, it was WILD to see foxes sitting right next to rabbits like it was no big deal. 

Very exciting and magical day for me!

Visited San Juan Island for a day and only had time for one hike — so Mount Finlayson it was!

This is a great trail with a nice mix of forest and open bluff, and even some opportunities for beach access. We started to the north in the forested section, which was dotted with some nice interpretive signs throughout, and detoured down to the beach for a bit near Jakle's Lagoon.

Once we got to the bluff, we almost immediately saw a fox. They are pretty common here, but it was my first time seeing a fox on trail so I was pretty amped! We watched it nibble on grasses from afar and then continued on down the loop. The way back is incredibly pretty, with wide open views down the coastline and to the nearby islands.

For a sunny(ish) Sunday in spring, we only saw 3 other folks out on trail and there was plenty of room at the trailhead.

Very easy trail, minimal elevation gain. Great views, but overcast day. Would love to come back during sunset!

This is not a difficult hike, but it definitely is one of the most visually pleasing hikes. The weather could not have been better. 68°, a soft ocean breeze, and blue skies for days. I added some mileage to the hike by going all the way to the light house and looping back around to the lagoons. I saw a few eagles and some foxes. A lovely way to spend the day!

Scenic loop at the tip of the American Camp peninsula. It traverses an interesting wind blown grassy landscape on the south side of the peninsula and a dense forest on the north side. The wind blown misshapen Doug Firs on the border of these two ecosystems are really cool to appreciate. I caught a small snake that appears to be a rare Sharp Tailed Snake. If there are any zoologists out there please let me know if it's the real Macoy.

6 mile loop