Saturday, April 22, 2006
Double Bluff Beach and Ebey's Landing Whidbey Island
The weather has finally turned and work let up a bit, so Sara, Bella and I decided to head out to Whidbey Island for a doggie adventure. Double Bluff Beach is on the south end of the island and is an official off-leash dog area. Bella had been here before (and written up on Seattlest.com), but this was the first time for Sara and I. Bella loved running around, wading in Puget Sound, smelling all the smelly stuff found at beaches. Sara and I enjoyed the cool bluffs (and were hoping for no earthquakes during the walk!), views of the Olympic Mountains, and the birds. We saw a great blue heron, adult bald eagle, and another large brown bird-either an immature bald eagle or an osprey. We hiked all the way to a rocky spit past the bluffs, where the wind was whipping down from the north. Following our visit to Double Bluff beach, we headed up to Coupeville and enjoyed a nice meal at Christopher's (roasted garlic soup, mmmm), and then headed out to Ebey's Landing, which was a mild mob scene. There was some sort of road rally going on, with hundreds of 50 year old men driving convertibles and their bundled up wives riding shotgun. Anyway, we were a bit tuckered from our Double Bluff hike, so we only hiked a bit up the bluff and sat and enjoyed more spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains. We were back in Seattle by 4 pm, in time to mow the lawn! It had been too long (over 2 months) since I had last been out on something resembling a hike!
Distance: 4 miles at Double Bluff, 2 miles at Ebey's Landing
Elevation Gain: 2 feet at Double Bluff, 200 feet at Ebey's Landing
Dog Rating: Best place ever...
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