Urban Adventure - Burfoot Park

Burfoot County Park is only 65 acres, but its trails go up and down steep ravines, past towering bluffs, among big firs and maples, and among Pacific rhododendrons.  It has 1,100 feet of salt water beach on Budd Inlet. 

We will walk an outer loop trail down to a ravine taking us to a lagoon and the beach.  Low tide at nearby Dofflemyer Point (Boston Harbor) is predicted at 8:52 a.m. with a height of  8.18 feet.  High tide is predicted at 11:31 a.m., with a height of 10.10 feet.  Enough beach will be exposed for us to walk north along the beach, at the foot of steep bluffs.

From the beach, we'll head uphill, past the ranger's resident and along the north side of the park towards where we started, passing restrooms and the picnic pavilion used for the Olympia Branch summer picnics.   Then, to get some mileage, we'll circle toward the beach and back on an inner loop. 

About a half-mile up the road, the Boston Harbor Marina's snack shack opens at 11:00 a.m., and if the weather is nice, it is a great place for simple dining al fresco. 

See Urban Trails Olympia, by Craig Romano, Mountaineer Books, 2017, pages 64-66.

First parking lot inside the entrance to Burfoot Park at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.   From I-5, take Exit 105 B, follow signs for Port of Olympia, and take Plum Street/East Bay Drive/Boston Harbor Road north through Squaxin Park.  Continue past where the median divider ends for another 4.4 miles.   Turn left into Burfoot County Park and go straight into parking area nearest the entrance.  It's a Thurston County park, and no parking pass or fee is required.  If you come to a T intersection and a stop sign, you've gone about 1/3 mile too far.