Hoypus Point Trail
Length: One mile (round trip) to overlook or 3.5-mile loop.
Level of difficulty: Level to moderately steep dirt/gravel trail.
Setting: This trail on the east side of Deception Pass State Park offers several options; keep left as you walk up this sword fern-flanked, forested trail, and in a half-mile, a clearing next to a residence offers splendid views of the surrounding land and sea. For a longer walk (with more old-growth forest), continue up to loop back around the peninsula. Pick up a free Hoypus Trails map at the main park entrance, or you might wander — perhaps deliberately — into the adjoining Hoypus Hill trails to the south.
Highlights: The human history of this area, now known as Cornet Bay, dates back more than 6,000 years; the bay was named for John Cornet, an early settler. During the 1920s and '30s, before the construction of the bridge, the Deception Pass ferry ran from Hoypus Point to Fidalgo Island.
This part of the park is very quiet in the off-season; you may hear the sound of waves lapping the shores of the bay, the hammering of a woodpecker 50 feet up a fir snag, or the cry of a young eagle flying overhead. These sounds of nature are occasionally punctuated by that of a passing motorboat or a jet from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
Facilities: Restrooms and water at main park entrance.
Restrictions: Pets on leash. No bikes or horses. Annual or daily ($50/$5) parking permit required in all state parks. Watch for stinging nettles in season.
Directions: From Interstate 5 north of Seattle, take Exit 230 and head west on Highway 20. After 12 miles, cross the bridge to Fidalgo Island, and in a few mores miles, turn left to follow Highway 20 south to Whidbey Island. One mile after crossing over the Deception Pass bridge, and opposite the main park entrance, turn left on Cornet Bay Road. In 2.2 miles, park across from an old gravel quarry; access the trail on the left side of the quarry by the road.
For more information: 360-675-2417 or www.parks.wa.gov/parks/
Cathy McDonald is coauthor with Stephen Whitney of "Nature Walks In and Around Seattle," with photographs by James Hendrickson (The Mountaineers, second edition, 1997).