We last visited The Hobbit Trail at South Whidbey State Park in December 2020. Blessed with a warm afternoon we decided to go hiking after school.
South Whidbey State Park is located on the south end of Whidby Island, just a couple of miles north of Freeland. The entrance to the park is on Smugglers Cove Road. When you turn in, pass the front parking area, drive past the dump station, and continue a short distance to the back parking lot, which has many spaces. Washington State Parks require a Discovery Pass for $10 a day or $30 a year. There is a machine to buy a pass on-site, or the local Ade Hardware in Freeland sells them for $35.
You can access Hobbit Trail by walking the road to the long closed campground. Find the road gated to the right of the restroom at the end of the parking lot. You can also take the secondary campground road to the left of the bathroom. Both paths meet back up.
See here for a printable map of the park.
After you pass this first junction and start back uphill on the road, you will see a junction to the left. This is the second campground section; turn onto it and gently follow the road downhill until it starts to curve.
There is a wide open area, with a picnic table. A log table and seats, with painted rocks, are on the far end. I think it is leftover from the nature school that used to meet in the park.
Painted rocks.
The sign for the Hobbit Trail is just beyond this.
In the old brochure box is now a set of markers for a game developed by the forest school. They called it the “Earth Warrior Course”.
The Calyx kids have made an Earth Warrior Course at the Hobbit Trail at South Whidbey State Park. It will be open for all ages. It will be open during park hours, which are dawn to dusk. The Earth Warrior Course is a place where you can exercise. It’s a place where you can use your physical strength, your smarts and your mind. There are nine stations. They are: Side to Side Jump; Bird Listening Station; Push Ups On A Log’ Sit-ups On The Fence; Running Forth and Back; Log Lift; Scaling the Bridge; Standing Long Jump; and lastly, the Thinking About Life Station. We hope you come to the hobbit Trail and try it out!
– By Sam (age 8), Satya (age 9), Sophie (age 9), and Zayne (age 10)”
The trail winds downhill quickly, but it was well built in the corners, with steps, so you are not sliding down.
The boys quickly remembered how in 2020 we had found a geocache here. They took off ahead of me and found it.
Walker got it open and found the visitor journal. We hadn’t signed it then as it had no pen in the box. This time it did!
And one dog rolling in the crunchy leaves all happy.
Alistaire up high above me.
The trail can be steep here, so a dry day is a better choice. Crunchy leaves and plants are starting to show early signs of spring. The deep freeze we had a couple of weeks ago seems not to have done much to tell the plants to keep sleeping. It was 55* out today. And dry. Perfect hiking weather.
The boys and one of our dogs, she loves poking her head into hollow trees. Always sniffing for rodents.
We returned by making a loop out of the campground roads and came back up the main road back to the car. It’s not a long, nor hard hike, but a great choice for spending an hour in the park.
~Sarah