This is not a boating post – other than it takes place on an island. If you came for riveting pictures of Turtle’s bilge, there’s nothing to see here.
I decided to walk Bainbridge from end-to-end. I walked the east-west trail a while back with my daughter, but that was only five miles. Despite having a ton of parks and other natural areas, Bainbridge isn’t actually super walkable. There’s a “share the road” ethic which means “no sidewalks” – and many of the trails butt up against private property or are actual easements on private property. There are several trails where you need to walk up someone’s driveway. Regardless, it seemed fun, so I did it (and it was fun).
I started on the south end because I live on the north end and I thought it would be fun to walk home. But, because of the weird shape, I couldn’t really walk directly south to north. So, for this trip, I decided to start at the furthest south-east point I could get to and walk to the furthest north-west. I’ll figure out a SW to NE route some other time. My general rule was to maximize trails (as opposed to roads) and, if I had to take a road, make it a road I’d never been on. There is an excellent high-resolution trail map available. It has a lot of trails I haven’t seen documented anywhere else.
Here’s the route I took. It was about 11 miles.
1. Beans Bight Road to Toe Jam Hill Road – My wife dropped me as far down as we could go before it became private property. This is a lovely leg – with panoramic views of Seattle and the ferry, very low traffic, and a nice view of Blakely Harbor.
2. Toe Jam Hill to Nutes Pond – Another very quiet section. Nutes Pond is (currently) very isolated – with no parking and only one entrance (There’s a land-use-action sign saying that will change soon). I have never seen anyone else there.
3. Nutes Pond to South Beach Road – The south end of this leg is a steep hill that runs along a ravine with giant sword ferns to open to a beautiful view of Blake Island to the south.
4. South Beach Drive to Fort Ward Park – A very beautiful leg with views of Blake and Rich Passage. Lots of foot traffic here – technically open to cars but it’s one lane.
5. Fort Ward Park – One of the old gun battery placements on Bainbridge. I don’t think they were ever fired. We’ve come down here in the fall for great blackberry, plumb, huckleberry, and apple picking. The second half of this leg is a fairly steep hill. This is the first opportunity use the bathroom (though the southern one appeared to be locked for the season. The one near the boat ramp was available).
6. Fort Ward to Blakely Harbor Park – I’ve been wanting to walk this leg for a while. It’s a fairly nondescript path, but it’s pretty and I didn’t see a single other person. There’s a fun section here where you could lose the trail (actually lots of these on this hike). But, they are all well-marked – even if the marker takes some looking.
7. Blakely Harbor Park – We’ve come here so many times – sometimes by boat, others by car. Lovely place with a great view of Seattle. The holding isn’t great, though and not a lot of swing room. Bathrooms are available.
8. Blakely Cemetery Trail – Steep switchbacks leading to a cemetery I never knew was here. Lots of trails here — worth another visit. Many of them appear to be easements on private property that are managed by BI parks.
9. Heydey Farm Trail – This was one of those, “wait, I’m here?” moments. We’ve been to Heydey farm – but it was before we had good intuitions about island geography – so I was surprised to find myself here. This was also one of the fun, “where’s the damn trailhead?” moments. The trail itself was intimate and felt kind of secret (though it was clearly marked). Discovering these little pockets is one of the highlights of hiking Bainbridge.
This trail also had a few “am I am someone’s yard?” moments – and one of the trailheads was definitely in someone’s driveway. Fun! There’s a little park here that I’d never been to. It had a pottery studio and a path to a “Relationship Labyrinth”, which I skipped, since it was the wrong direction. (Note, this is not the Labyrinth, which is a great place to have a cup of coffee). There’s a public bathroom in the pottery studio.
10. Eagle Harbor Drive – “Share the Road” isn’t a plan, it’s wishful thinking. Bainbridge doesn’t have many sidewalks or bike lanes, and the signs cautioning vehicles to yield to horses or tractors are mostly nostalgic. Driver behavior on these roads runs the gamut from completely stopping until the pedestrians are safe at home to blasting by at 60 mph as if they weren’t there. I typically slow down to around 20 mph and give them wide berth. I’d like to say that islanders are more courteous, but, as a rule, most of them speed; and, their opinion about proper etiquette is entirely relative to whether they are driving or walking. I’ve been forced into the ditch by Volvos with “Bainbridge Native” bumper stickers going 50 down private roads. I’ve also been glared at when I don’t perform the elaborate ritual of slowing to 5 mph and going to the far opposite side of the road. This is a long-winded way of saying that this stretch sucked. There were a few places with sidewalks or bike lanes, but for the most part it is a busy road where people drive fast and think you’re a jerk for walking there. But, there’s no other way around the tip of Eagle Harbor.
They are building a north-south trail, which has shut down one of the major four-ways for several months. Despite all of the chaos and grousing, I think the plan has been relatively well-executed. It almost makes me think that there’s a competent public servant hiding somewhere in the basement of city hall.
11. Winslow Waterfront Trail – The trails from Winslow along the north side of Eagle Harbor are short but interesting. There’s lots to see and several fun little hidden nooks.
12. Thuy’s for a Banh Mi – I didn’t take any more pictures, but my final destination has the best banh mis on Bainbridge. I get the pork with no jalapeños plus a fried egg. At $14 they’re at a price only a tourist could love (even in downtown Seattle, the banh mi index is at $10). But, man, they’re good. Perfect end to a really fun hike. I’m not a fan of Thuy’s pho. For the best pho in Kitsap, got to Pho T&N.
Next time, I’m headed from Winslow to the North end of Agate Passage.