North Beach & Fort Warden- Port Townsend

This was another weekend on the peninsula.  Sunday morning at my Mom’s had me collecting a couple oysters off the beach to go with my eggs, and then breakfasting while we watched these eagles and a heron. 

After breakfast and visiting, Justus, my mom and I picked up my aunt and we did a short hike.  This is more of a jaunt, although you can make it more challenging by taking more side tracks, weighting your pack, or running it. Starting out in the North Beach parking area, we strolled and beachcombed down the beach under the bluffs.  This is an excellent place to see both wildlife and maritime traffic.  We saw cormorants, bufflehead ducks, ships and even a submarine with (which later caused Justus and I to wait about a half hour to cross the Hood Canal Bridge as they passed through).  I have seen deer and otters near here as well.

There was a rusty door on the beach that none of us could budge.  We thought maybe it had come off a cargo ship and speculated how it might have ended up on the shore.

Following the beach along the sandy bluffs, and noting the fresh signs of landslides following all the rain we’ve had, soon we could see Point Wilson Lighthouse. 

Before the lighthouse, we cut up through the campground – I’d like to stay here sometime!- and then took a trail up the hillside into Fort Warden.  We saw trillium, Oregon grape, and wild currant blooming.  The Pacific madronas are plentiful and beautiful as well, with their rich red trunks.

Fort Warden is a maze of dark concrete hallways, creaky rusting doors, stairs going up, down and sideways, alcoves, rooms and turrets.  It’s a fun day for kids of all ages.  I had forgotten how fun, but Justus, Adventure Dog and I played for a while here, enjoying the spooky yet peaceful ambience.  

We also found a door on the floor, which made me look a little closer. I think maybe our beach door came from Fort Warden and was tossed down, rather than washing up.

Many of the features here at Fort Warden are well-marked and have informative signs.  If you had interest and more time, you could probably spend hours wandering about.  The one sign that they don’t seem to have is a map and it’s pretty easy to get turned around getting back down to the parking lot.