Trees and more trees - Hoypus Forest

Long time no post! Due to schedules, weather, and personal life, I have not had much time to hike, let alone post. I finally, finally got a hike in on Sunday, though! I decided to head to Deception Pass to check out a corner of Deception Pass State Park that I'd never visited before.

To get to Hoypus Point Natural Forest Area, turn onto Cornet Bay Road from Hwy 20 (on the Whidbey Island side of the pass) and follow it all the way until the end.

Hoypus Forest Natural Forest Area - Deception Pass State Park

Washington State Parks

Parking Permit: Discover Pass ($10/day or $30/year)

Distance: 5 miles

Elevation gain: 400'

The parking is right alongside busy docks and a boat ramp. Signs advertise that you can park here for boat tours. I imagine it fills up in the summer, but on this gray and drizzly autumn day it was fairly quiet.

To start off, you'll walk down the road past the gate for about a mile. It's a level and easy hike, with lots of beach access along the way. I encountered a family that had biked down to their favorite beach spot. It seems to be a popular path with the locals.

None shall pass. Except hikers. Hikers are okay.

Along this stretch, you'll get peek-a-boo views of Deception Pass Bridge through the foliage.

At the end of the road is a clearing. A small service road goes up to a storage area, and two trails branch off the end. To get to Hoypus Point, take the left one that hugs the water.

Hoypus Point is a small clearing that opens up to beach. You can see Fidalgo Island to the north. It was pretty misty when I went.

The beach is small but sandy, something uncommon in this region of rocky beaches. It would make a great lunch spot!

Back to the end of the road, take the other trail, which is the East Hoypus Point Trail. Heading into the woods, the trails are fortunately a little more well marked.

There is a decently sized trail system here, so you can mix and match trails to shorten or lengthen your hike as you wish. I plotted out a loop that was five miles including the jaunt out to the point.

There are some amazing trees in here.

This dead tree had a little bit of new growth coming out the top.

Seems like as good as any a spot to take up root.

I was especially fascinated by the fallen giants.

The dog is small, but he looks even smaller here.

There were also lots of mushrooms. I thought these were particularly pretty. I am not a mushroom person though, so not sure what kind they are.

You'll run into the boundary of the park eventually, as well as some residents' backyards, so be respectful. There is a junction with Fireline Trail that will take you back toward the parking lot, but I pressed on for a bit of a longer loop. There are a few unmarked junctions, so when in doubt, hang right. After a brief climb, I turned on the aptly named Hemlock Hideaway.

Then I turned on Forest Grove.

I didn't notice there was a trail named "Slug Slough" when I was initially planning my route, so didn't take this trail, but I wondered if it was as aptly named as the others.

Even though the forest is surrounded by civilization, when you're in the thick of it it's dead quiet and seems to stretch forever.

I rejoined Fireline Trail and then followed the signs back to South Hoypus Point Trailhead to finish off my hike.

The first route I planned out was over 7 miles long when I plotted it out, and you can make even longer routes, so you can spend a fair amount of time exploring these woods. It was a great relaxing getaway for a few hours on Whidbey Island.


I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update here as we go into the winter months. I will see if I can pull photos from old hikes and run with those. I may cut back to updating every other week though. We will see what happens.