Clayton Beach Redemption! 08-01-2012

A kind blog visitor pointed out that it sounded like my original visit to Clayton Beach back in November might have been a bit hasty in offering a less than impressive opinion about the area.

You might want to take a moment to read the original Clayton Beach trip report.

Earlier this month I finished a nice 4 mile run along the interurban trail from the Clayton Beach parking lot.  Gasping for air at the end of the run, I wandered out the vehicle enterance/exit for the parking lot and noticed an obvious trail on the west side of Chuckanut Drive.

Upon further inspection, this trail immedietly descends some nice and sturdy stairs onto what appears to be a former railroad grade.  It then immediately crosses a small creek on a very sturdy bridge. 

Neither the stairs nor the bridge were encountered during my first reported visit to Clayton Beach.

Near as I can tell, my original visit must have taken a user-created shortcut trail instead of the real, intended, official trail.

With a little lactic acid to work out, this was a perfect chance to hike down and see the REAL Clayton Beach.

As Annonymous Commenter stated, there is indeed a beach down there.  The tide was pretty high as of this visit, but there was a good 20 feet x 20 feet square of Puget Sound Sand (small gravel, not legitimate ocean type Baywatch sand).  Small for a beach, but probably larger when the tide retreats.

The trail then wanders along the cliffy shoreline with plenty of spots to stop for a picnic and to enjoy the views.

I admit that this is a nice little area and a visit during low tide will be well worth my time in the future.

Of particular interest are the world famous erosion circles along the shoreline.  Like crop circles, except that they aren't a mystery, they aren't alien and we do know how they get there.

In the picture below, you can see a small portion of the beach area below the cliff pictured just left of center.

The trail from the parking lot is easy to follow, except for the last 100 yards or so.  The final descent down to the railroad tracks is a bit steep compared to the gentle slope of the main trail.  Plus, this descent is on large buried boulders which can be very slippery - even when dry.

After crossing the train tracks, the trail continues down to the beach.  This portion of the trail is less well developed than the RR grade portion, but the way is obvious.

Share & Enjoy.

~E