Bay View State Park

Location: Bay View (northwest of Mount Vernon), Skagit County

Walk length: About a half-mile stroll near the beach to the campground, with additional add-on walks (see below).

Level of difficulty: Level-to-gentle paved, gravel and grassy trails.

Setting: The park offers 1,285 feet of shoreline on Padilla Bay, a huge shallow bay with portions designated as a national estuarine reserve. Thousands of years ago, the Skagit River emptied into Padilla and Skagit bays, forming extensive marshes. Ancestors of the Swinomish and Samish tribes lived along the shore, utilizing the rich food resources provided by the area's many habitats.

When settlers arrived in the area, they diked and drained areas to control flooding and to add acres of rich farmland, which reduced wetlands and cut off the bay's main source of fresh water (today the Skagit River now empties to the south, solely into Skagit Bay). Today, the scenery includes oil refineries on March's Point, across the bay from Bay View.

Highlights: For an additional walk, go a half-mile south of the park along Bay View-Edison Road to reach the northern end of the Padilla Bay Shore Trail (parking lot on Second Street — follow signs), a packed-gravel trail that extends two miles south on top of a dike. A half-mile north of the state park, check out the exhibits at the Breazeale Interpretive Center, which describe how Padilla Bay is a critical habitat for a variety of wildlife and birds. Continue north .3 mile to find the turnoff to the Bay View Cemetery, where you can pay respects to some of the pioneers who settled the area. Four new year-round cabins at the state park campground overlook the bay and allow an easy base to explore this unique area.

Facilities: Restrooms with showers at campground; vault toilets at beach.

Restrictions: Leash and scoop laws in effect.

Directions: From Interstate 5 north of Seattle, take Exit 231 and head west on Josh Wilson Road (northbound, turn right at the end of the exit ramp, cross over the freeway, and turn left on Josh Wilson Road; southbound, take two lefts to Josh Wilson Road). Go 6.5 miles and turn right at the bay on Bay View-Edison Road. The state park is on the right in .2 mile.

For more information: 360-757-0227 or www.parks.wa.gov.

— Cathy McDonald, Special to The Seattle Times

Renton-based freelancer Cathy McDonald, a former geologist, has written about science and nature travel for 20 years. She's a travel guidebook editor at Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door.