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<\/p>\nThe weather reports were calling for clear skies and a warm day (that would be above 50 by Seattle standards this time of year) on Saturday.\u00a0\u00a0 In the coastal Pacific Northwest\u00a0one should pay attention for such musings from the weather folks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Saturday morning was indeed\u00a0amazingly great looking\u00a0and I wasted little time in getting packed up and headed out.\u00a0 The destination today was Fort Ebey State Park combined with the adjacent Kettles Park.\u00a0\u00a0 After some nice scenery from the ferry over to Whidbey Island and a pretty ride through the countryside I parked at one of the trailheads at Kettles Park.\u00a0\u00a0 The plan was to ride some of the trails westwardly through Kettles Park over into Fort Ebey State Park.\u00a0\u00a0 I would try to do all of the Fort Ebey stuff and then work my way back through the rest of Kettles Park on the way back.\u00a0\u00a0The trails of Kettles were mostly buff goodness with a combination of\u00a0quick flowliness and tight twisty stuff that required a bit of shoulder tucking here and there to avoid the trees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The fun singletrack continued after crossing into Fort Ebey State Park.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I intentionally\u00a0tried to stitch together the most serendipitous route possible to get onto as many trails as I could without too many loop backs.\u00a0\u00a0 The trails I took as I worked my way up to the west coast of the island and the Fort’s old gun battery\u00a0were Grade A forested goodness that were\u00a0a real cross country pleasure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Fort Ebey’s original purpose was to serve as gun battery defending Puget Sound during WWII.\u00a0 Construction began in 1942 and the two gun batteries were placed in service in 1943.\u00a0 In 1965 Fort Ebey started being converted to a state park.\u00a0 Today visitors can walk through the bunkers and the foundation for the turrets now make a nice bench in which to enjoy the views.<\/p>\n
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The most\u00a0popular and \u00a0iconic trails here is the Bluff Trail.\u00a0\u00a0 Its\u00a0proximity to the edge of the bluff and\u00a0stunning views offered of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the Olympic Peninsula on clear days is truly an incredible thing to experience. Unfortunately bicycles are not longer allowed on most of the trail.\u00a0 There are a couple of\u00a0sections to the south of the battery that are still open to bikes and they\u00a0should not\u00a0be missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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I rode the open sections of the Bluff Trail in both directions just to get the full experience.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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At the south end of the park is the Cedar Hollow loop which also offers more of the killer views.\u00a0\u00a0 It is well worth some of the grunt work involved to get to the views.<\/p>\n
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After I got done looping in all the Fort Ebey trails I made my way back into Kettles Park and enjoyed some really nice singletrack through the forest.\u00a0 I was feeling pretty pooped at this point, but the temperature had\u00a0climbed to 68 degrees so it was pretty easy to keep on going despite complaining legs.\u00a0\u00a0I pretty much rode all the trails of Kettles which brought the mileage up to a little over 20 miles before I called it a day.\u00a0\u00a0 A day that I call simply awesome!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Expect more information on this place the site in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n