Priest Point Park trail

Location: Olympia

Length: Three miles round-trip.

Level of difficulty: Level to moderately steep dirt/gravel/wood chip trails (muddy after rains).

Setting: Despite its view of the state Capitol, this 254-acre city park with a mile of saltwater frontage along Budd Inlet feels far removed from the city. The Ellis Cove Trail leads down through a forest of good-sized big-leaf maples, cedars and firs to switchback along the stream ravines that empty into Ellis Cove. Access to the cobble beach is available at several points.

The Squaxin tribe once met here to trade and to place burial canoes in the trees. The point was named for Father Pascal Ricard, a French missionary who came in 1848 to establish the St. Joseph Mission. After the treaty of 1855, the mission was eventually abandoned. The area was logged around 1900. Wooden pilings in the cove bear mute testimony to a long-ago pier.

Highlights: A large sand bar extends across the mouth of the cove, making this a refuge for shorebirds and waterfowl. Watch for great blue herons, greenback herons, ruddy ducks, scaups, canvasbacks, buffleheads, mergansers, redheads, grebes and goldeneyes. Interpretive signs at trail lookouts describe the area's ecology and history. For more park information, call 360-753-8380.

Facilities: Restrooms, water and playground.

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect for pets. No bikes or horses allowed on Ellis Cove Trail.

Directions: From southbound Interstate 5 in Olympia, take Exit 105B. Follow the Port of Olympia signs to head north on Plum Street (which becomes East Bay Drive Northeast, then Boston Harbor Road). The park entrance is about two miles ahead on the right, just before an overpass. Within the park, cross the overpass and follow signs to the trail.

From northbound I-5 in Olympia, take Exit 105 and keep right. Turn right at the bottom of the exit ramp, and cross under the freeway to go straight on Plum Street and proceed as above.

Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of "Nature Walks In and Around Seattle," with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).