Miles: 120 acres of intersecting trails; we hiked 1.9 miles in a large loop
Elevation Gain/Highest: 150ft/325ft
Map: Island County (there is also a kiosk with a map you can snap a picture of with your phone)
Favorite Eats After Hike: Ultra House, Skagit Valley Co-op, Shambala Bistro and Bakery, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike Details:
The Saratoga Woods Trail System and The Waterman Erratic is a worth a visit on Whidbey Island if you love exploring Puget Sound geological features. Just outside the island town of Langley, these 120 acres offer a gentle stroll in the forest and a chance to experience a 38 foot moss covered erratic heavier than the Seattle Space Needle! Whidbey Island was once covered by 4,000 feet of glacial ice and is composed of 1,000s of feet of sediment. Nearby hikes like Double Bluff and the Kettles are great places to see more geological evidence.
My hikes:
6/6/2021
Staying in Langley for the weekend, I rode my bike the short 3 miles over to Saratoga Woods for some outside strolling in between rain showers. Everything was glistening and green with new growth. There were a few muddy spots and folks out walking their dogs but it felt like I had the whole woods to myself.
There was a geocache tucked in a small ledge on the erratic that was new to find this year (the kids are into that!) and slugs were climbing routes along the moss clinging to the large boulder.
Leaving the main parking lot on the side trail that runs along the road, the grass was tall and is hard to find if you don’t know it is there but takes you into the middle of the woods on Wood Lymph Way and is the most direct route to the erratic itself.
11/10/2018
We were staying on Whidbey Island this weekend and took some time to explore some of the geological features from the Western Washington Geology Underfoot book, namely the erratics dropped by glacial activity.
The best one was in the Saratoga Woods Trail System and The Waterman Erratic where we took an almost 2 mile stroll on the Wood Nymph and Pacific Yew trails for a loop that included the erratic nestled away in the forest. It was so cool!
From the parking lot on Saratoga Road, we took Wood Lymph up to meet the old airstrip .44 miles and then turned right. Walking along airstrip, the unmarked junction for the erratic appeared in another quarter mile. Left took us down into the forest and the depression that holds the erratic.
The kids (and I) enjoyed walking around the 38 foot high boulder and imagining how it was deposited here long ago due to glacial activity. It is believed it may have been carried from the northern end of the island some 30 miles away. The boys had fun trying handholds on the rock but climbing is discouraged so ascending was not an option.
One fun fact I shared from the book was that the Waterman Erratic weighs almost 1.5 times that of the Space Needle! After exploring for a while we made our way back out to the junction and continued north on the airstrip and around on Pacific Yew back to the car to make a loop.
The trail was wide and well maintained and easy to follow, with mushrooms galore, There were several of other side trails that could have been explored if we had more time and we didn’t see many other people on our hike. The parking lot did have a kiosk with a map that we could take a picture of for navigating our way around. Overall, we gained about 150 feet (and lost 190) on our loop hike.
The end of our hike through the Saratoga Woods Trail System and a visit to the Waterman Erratic brought us out towards the parking lot and we walked through an old apple orchard homestead. There were a few dilapidated structures to peer into and rustic red apples on the gnarled branches of the remaining trees.
We stopped at Whidbey Donuts on our way back to Smuggler’s Cove and enjoyed some delicious treats, they did have a gluten-free option which as one of the best gluten-free donuts I have ever had. The guy behind the counter said he didn’t necessarily eat gluten-free but chose them over the regular cake donuts because they are so good and I have to agree!
Directions: If arriving from the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry, head north on Highway 525 to the light at Bayview Road. Turn right onto Bayview Road towards Langley, travel roughly 3 miles to De Bruyn Avenue and turn left. At the stop sign turn left again on Saratoga Road. The park is almost 3 miles ahead on the left side after a large open field, 4228 Saratoga Rd., Langley. No pass needed and seasonal port-a-potty (there are public restrooms back in Langley).
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