Meadowdale Beach Hike

What could be better than hiking with nine CAI friends, enjoying nature on a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest and feasting on lunch with the Puget Sound & Olympic Mountain Range in the background!

This hike goes down a lushly forested ravine with a babbling creek to its estuary as it empties into Puget Sound. The forest is a mixed forest with big leaf maple, Western red cedar, Sitka spruce, etc. It features a beautiful mature second growth forest as well.

At the one mile point there is a fork in the trail. We chose to take a left to go over the bridge to peek into the stream for cutthroat trout or steelhead however we did not see any. Salmon come in the Fall to spawn.

After beachcombing and having lunch we headed back up to our cars. It is a steep uphill climb to the parking lot. This is where you get to climb the 90 steps … a good workout indeed and well worth the effort to be surrounded by such natural beauty!

Submitted by Kendra Wanzenried