Foulweather Bluff Trails

A Coastal Preserve Managed by The Nature Conservancy

With a focus on conservation, The Nature Conservancy manages sensitive areas all over the world. Most people don’t realize it owns an incredible preserve in Kitsap County.

Featuring a short, but captivating trail and an almost 3/4-mile long walkable beach, Foulweather Bluff, named for the sheer bluff where forest meets beach, is a 100 acre preserve with incredible scenery and abundant wildlife.

Pros

Cons

Foulweather Bluff Trail Maps

The trail maps below show Foulweather Bluff’s location at the northern tip of the Kitsap peninsula as well as a more detailed trail map of the preserve

Foulweather Bluff Preserve Trail Map - Overview

Introduction

Although unknown to many, The Nature Conservancy Foulweather Bluff Preserve a destination that attracts visitors from Seattle and beyond, especially on a sunny day. Just being a Nature Conservancy property gives it instant credibility and draws nature lovers in to see the prime wildlife habitat and scenery.

Even though the only actual trail is about 1/3-mile long, the beach is about 3/4-miles long and allows you to create a round trip hike of 2 miles. Unlike hikes leading through an uninteresting stretch of forest to an eventual overlook, here you will be distracted by sounds and sights the whole way.

Leading from the parking area on the south side of NE Twin Spits Rd, the trail meanders through mature forest and skirts a large marsh to your left as you progress towards the beach. Sounds from visiting water birds will often make you wish you could see the wetland from the trail. Don’t worry. Once you reach the beach you can turn left and look over the marsh, especially if you remembered to bring binoculars.

This is a wildlife sanctuary and therefore, you can’t bring your dog with you as some don’t realize until they arrive. From the marsh to the waters of Hood Canal, you can expect to see and sometimes only hear sounds from the many species of birds likely to be present.

When the trail reaches the beach, your hike is not over. Turn right and walk along the beach below the bluff and examine all the different textures and colors visible in the exposed face. During tides low enough to expose a walkable stretch of beach, you can follow it from one end of the preserve to the other.

Even though the scenery is amazing and you can spend several hours here, you may still have some hiking energy left when you are ready to move on. North Kitsap is loaded with other walking, hiking, and biking opportunities and you are only a short distance from the Hansville Greenway trail system and Point No Point Lighthouse and Park, also featured on this site.